diff --git a/rtv/content.py b/rtv/content.py
index 404b5f0..35e7eea 100644
--- a/rtv/content.py
+++ b/rtv/content.py
@@ -8,31 +8,19 @@ import requests
 
 from .errors import SubmissionURLError, SubredditNameError
 
-is_utf8 = True
+FORCE_ASCII = True
 
+def clean(string):
 
-def clean(unicode_string):
-    """
-    Checks if -a was given, if it was it
-    converts unicode string into ascii-safe characters.
-    """
-    if not is_utf8:
-        if six.PY2:
-            ascii_string = unicode_string.encode('ascii', 'replace')
-        else:
-            ascii_string = unicode_string.encode().decode('ascii', 'replace')
+    encoding = 'ascii' if FORCE_ASCII else 'utf-8'
 
-            ascii_string = ascii_string.replace('\\', '')
-        return ascii_string
+    if six.PY2:
+        out = string.encode(encoding, 'replace')
     else:
-        if six.PY2:
-            utf8_string = unicode_string.encode('utf-8', 'replace')
-        else:
-            utf8_string = unicode_string.encode().decode('utf-8', 'replace')
-
-            utf8_string = utf8_string.replace('\\', '')
-        return utf8_string
-
+        out = string.encode().decode(encoding, 'replace')
+    
+    out = out.replace('\\', '')
+    return out
 
 def split_text(big_text, width):
     return [
@@ -374,6 +362,7 @@ class SubredditContent(BaseContent):
         try:
             content.get(0)
         except:
+            # TODO: Trap specific errors
             raise SubredditNameError(display_name)
 
         return content
diff --git a/rtv/main.py b/rtv/main.py
index ac6b13e..a48e87b 100644
--- a/rtv/main.py
+++ b/rtv/main.py
@@ -1,19 +1,26 @@
 import argparse
+import locale
+
 import praw
 from requests.exceptions import ConnectionError, HTTPError
 from praw.errors import InvalidUserPass
 
+from . import content
 from .errors import SubmissionURLError, SubredditNameError
 from .utils import curses_session, load_config, HELP
 from .subreddit import SubredditPage
 from .submission import SubmissionPage
-import locale
-import rtv.content
 
 # Debugging
 # import logging
 # logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG, filename='rtv.log')
 
+locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
+
+AGENT = """
+desktop:https://github.com/michael-lazar/rtv:(by /u/civilization_phaze_3)
+"""
+
 DESCRIPTION = """
 Reddit Terminal Viewer is a lightweight browser for www.reddit.com built into a
 terminal window.
@@ -39,7 +46,7 @@ def main():
     parser.add_argument('-s', dest='subreddit', help='subreddit name')
     parser.add_argument('-l', dest='link', help='full link to a submission')
     parser.add_argument('--force-ascii', dest='force_ascii',
-        help='forces ascii (disables unicode)', action='store_true')
+        help='disable unicode', action='store_true')
 
     group = parser.add_argument_group(
         'authentication (optional)',
@@ -57,15 +64,14 @@ def main():
         if getattr(args, key) is None:
             setattr(args, key, val)
 
+    content.FORCE_ASCII = args.force_ascii
+
     if args.subreddit is None:
         args.subreddit = 'front'
 
-    if args.force_ascii:
-        rtv.content.is_utf8 = False
-        locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
-
     try:
-        reddit = praw.Reddit(user_agent='desktop:https://github.com/michael-lazar/rtv:(by /u/civilization_phaze_3)')
+        print('Connecting...')
+        reddit = praw.Reddit(user_agent=AGENT)
         reddit.config.decode_html_entities = True
 
         if args.username:
@@ -83,9 +89,6 @@ def main():
     except InvalidUserPass:
         print('Invalid password for username: {}'.format(args.username))
 
-    except KeyboardInterrupt:
-        return
-
     except ConnectionError:
         print('Connection timeout: Could not connect to http://www.reddit.com')
 
@@ -97,3 +100,7 @@ def main():
 
     except SubredditNameError as e:
         print('Could not reach subreddit: {}'.format(e.name))
+
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        return
+