diff --git a/VMX/Common.pm b/VMX/Common.pm
index aac1c1e..9e67f3c 100644
--- a/VMX/Common.pm
+++ b/VMX/Common.pm
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ sub trim
 # $str = htmlspecialchars ($str)
 sub htmlspecialchars
 {
-    $_ = shift;
+    local $_ = shift;
     s/&/'/gso;
     s/</&lt;/gso;
     s/>/&gt;/gso;
diff --git a/VMX/Template.pm b/VMX/Template.pm
index e0efd1a..5d07dc0 100644
--- a/VMX/Template.pm
+++ b/VMX/Template.pm
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ sub datapop
 sub parse
 {
     my $self = shift;
-    my $handle = shift;
+    my ($handle) = @_;
     die("[Template] couldn't load template file for handle $handle")
         unless $self->loadfile($handle);
     $self->compile($handle);