diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 153dd3d..7383086 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ group :development do
   gem 'octopress-date-format', '~> 2.0'
   gem 'jekyll-sitemap'
   gem 'rdiscount', '~> 2.0'
+  gem 'pygments.rb', '~> 0.2.12'
   gem 'RedCloth', '~> 4.2.9'
   gem 'haml', '~> 4.0'
   gem 'compass', '~> 1.0.1'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 304092a..21fa9b9 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -1,10 +1,3 @@
-GIT
-  remote: https://github.com/akzhan/pygments.rb.git
-  revision: 11422be8de49703021a2fb85eafe55caab5fc2af
-  specs:
-    pygments.rb (0.2.12)
-      rubypython (~> 0.6.1)
-
 GEM
   remote: http://rubygems.org/
   specs:
@@ -26,7 +19,7 @@ GEM
       kramdown (~> 0.13.4)
       liquid (~> 2.3)
       maruku (~> 0.5)
-    kramdown (0.13.7)
+    kramdown (0.14.1)
     liquid (2.3.0)
     maruku (0.6.1)
       syntax (>= 1.0.0)
@@ -34,11 +27,11 @@ GEM
     rack (1.4.1)
     rack-protection (1.2.0)
       rack
-    rake (0.9.2.2)
-    rb-fsevent (0.9.1)
+    rake (0.9.5)
+    rb-fsevent (0.9.2)
     rdiscount (1.6.8)
     rubypants (0.2.0)
-    rubypython (0.6.2)
+    rubypython (0.5.3)
       blankslate (>= 2.1.2.3)
       ffi (~> 1.0.7)
     sass (3.1.19)
@@ -60,12 +53,11 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   haml (~> 3.1.7)
   jekyll (~> 0.12)
   liquid (~> 2.3.0)
-  pygments.rb!
+  pygments.rb (~> 0.2.12)
   rack (~> 1.4.1)
   rake (~> 0.9.2)
   rb-fsevent (~> 0.9)
   rdiscount (~> 1.6.8)
   rubypants (~> 0.2.0)
-  rubypython (~> 0.6.1)
   sinatra (~> 1.3.2)
   stringex (~> 1.4.0)
diff --git a/plugins/pygments_code.rb b/plugins/pygments_code.rb
index c0f4de9..78e7894 100644
--- a/plugins/pygments_code.rb
+++ b/plugins/pygments_code.rb
@@ -43,3 +43,65 @@ module HighlightCode
     table += "</pre></td><td class='code'><pre><code class='#{lang}'>#{code}</code></pre></td></tr></table></div>"
   end
 end
+
+#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
+# INTERIM BUGFIX FOR: https://github.com/imathis/octopress/issues/704
+# an upstream solution is in the works but, as of 2012-08-29, the pygment.rb
+# gem has yet to incorporate necessary changes and release a new gem:
+# https://github.com/tmm1/pygments.rb/issues/10
+#
+# The ForcePython2 module below tries to ensure that, when the 'python' command
+# is executed, it always returns an interpreter for version 2.* of python,
+# regardless of what the system-wide default version of python is. When the
+# system-wide version of python is not 2.* and a compatible version is found,
+# a .pygments-cache/python-bin/python symlink is created which points to the
+# compatible version. The python-bin directory is then added to the PATH
+# which gives priority to locally identified version.
+#
+module ForcePython2
+  class << self
+    def find_python2
+      (%w{python python2} + 10.downto(0).map{|v|"python2.#{v}"}).each do |cmd|
+        cmd_path = which_cmd(cmd) or next
+        return cmd_path if python_major_ver(cmd_path) == 2
+      end
+      nil
+    end
+
+    def python_major_ver(cmd_path)
+      %x{"#{cmd_path}" -c "import sys; print(sys.version_info.major)"}.to_i
+    end
+
+    def which_cmd(cmd)
+      # loosely based on cross-platform solution found on stack overflow:
+      # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2108727/
+      exts = ENV['PATHEXT'] ? ENV['PATHEXT'].split(';') : [''] # windows
+      ENV['PATH'].split(File::PATH_SEPARATOR).each do |path|
+        cmd_paths = exts.map {|ext| "#{path}#{File::SEPARATOR}#{cmd}#{ext}" }
+        cmd_path = cmd_paths.find {|c| File.executable?(c) }
+        return cmd_path if cmd_path
+      end
+      nil
+    end
+
+    def force
+      # rewrite PATH to include local dir which might have python symlink
+      path = "#{PYGMENTS_CACHE_DIR}#{File::SEPARATOR}python-bin"
+      ENV['PATH'] = "#{path}#{File::PATH_SEPARATOR}#{ENV['PATH']}"
+
+      # if 'python' command's version is 2.*, we're good
+      return if python_major_ver(which_cmd('python')) == 2
+
+      # not v2, search all our paths for a compatible version
+      if cmd_path = find_python2
+        # found a compatible version, make it stick w/ a symlink
+        sym_path = "#{path}#{File::SEPARATOR}python#{File.extname(cmd_path)}"
+        FileUtils.mkdir_p(path)
+        File.symlink(cmd_path, sym_path) rescue nil # don't care if unimplemented
+      end
+    end
+
+  end
+end
+
+ForcePython2::force unless ENV['FORCE_PYTHON2'] =~ /^(?:0|false|no)$/i
diff --git a/plugins/ruby_python_arch_linux_fix.rb b/plugins/ruby_python_arch_linux_fix.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index a43ec65..0000000
--- a/plugins/ruby_python_arch_linux_fix.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-RubyPython.start :python_exe => 'python2.7'