Java Hacker

I'm a Java guy. Java is the language I learned the best during my ten year at the university. I also tried and wrote small one-time programs using C++, Coldfusion, Lisp, Python. I don't remember these very well anymore. My Java knowledge increased by working on big projects utilizing a lot of the language. I know what I was taught. I first learned how to write a program and get it running using an applet. Then I learned the MVC paradigm and how to get a program running using a web application. I hope you understand what I mean. There must be other more sophisticated ways to get an application running. How do I learn them? Are web frameworks still good? Is there a 2nd language I should become familiar with? My one goal is to be able to get an application up and running from scratch. All I have to do now is learn how to do this.