diff --git a/gluon/contrib/shell.py b/gluon/contrib/shell.py
index 341b32a2..638d3c81 100755
--- a/gluon/contrib/shell.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/shell.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ _HISTORY_KIND = '_Shell_History'
 UNPICKLABLE_TYPES = [
     types.ModuleType,
     type,
-    ClassType
+    ClassType,
     types.FunctionType,
 ]
 
diff --git a/gluon/globals.py b/gluon/globals.py
index 43079593..3af951c1 100644
--- a/gluon/globals.py
+++ b/gluon/globals.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ import threading
 import cgi
 import copy
 import tempfile
-import json
+import json as json_parser
 
 
 FMT = '%a, %d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S PST'
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ class Request(Storage):
 
         if is_json:
             try:
-                json_vars = json.load(body)
+                json_vars = json_parser.load(body)
             except:
                 # incoherent request bodies can still be parsed "ad-hoc"
                 json_vars = {}