diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index c824ff2..906b2cb 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ History
 - Added "transparent" parameters for making requests, meaning users can pass bool values (True, False) to Twython methods and we convert your params in the background to satisfy the Twitter API. Also, file objects can now be passed seamlessly (see examples in README and in /examples dir for details)
 - Callback URL is optional in ``get_authentication_tokens`` to accomedate those using OOB authorization (non web clients)
 - Not part of the python package, but tests are now available along with Travis CI hooks
+- Added ``__repr__`` definition for Twython, when calling only returning <Twython: APP_KEY>
+- Removed ``Twython.unicode2utf8`` and ``Twython.encode`` methods
+- Cleaned up ``Twython.construct_api_url``, uses "transparent" parameters (see 4th bullet in this version for explaination)
 
 2.9.1 (2013-05-04)
 ++++++++++++++++++
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 70bd0e7..edc9ff6 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 coverage==3.6.0
-requests==1.2.0
+requests==1.2.1
 requests_oauthlib==0.3.1
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 42de4b2..733e775 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ setup(
     include_package_data=True,
 
     # Package dependencies.
-    install_requires=['requests==1.2.0', 'requests_oauthlib==0.3.1'],
+    install_requires=['requests==1.2.1', 'requests_oauthlib==0.3.1'],
 
     # Metadata for PyPI.
     author='Ryan McGrath',
diff --git a/twython/compat.py b/twython/compat.py
index e44b5b4..79f9c2c 100644
--- a/twython/compat.py
+++ b/twython/compat.py
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@ if is_py2:
     except ImportError:
         from cgi import parse_qsl
 
+    str = unicode
     basestring = basestring
 
 
 elif is_py3:
     from urllib.parse import urlencode, quote_plus, parse_qsl
 
+    str = str
     basestring = (str, bytes)
diff --git a/twython/helpers.py b/twython/helpers.py
index 7b8275b..76ca404 100644
--- a/twython/helpers.py
+++ b/twython/helpers.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from .compat import basestring
+from .compat import basestring, is_py2, str
 
 
 def _transparent_params(_params):
@@ -17,3 +17,9 @@ def _transparent_params(_params):
         else:
             continue
     return params, files
+
+
+def _encode(value):
+    if is_py2 and isinstance(value, str):
+        value.encode('utf-8')
+    return value
diff --git a/twython/twython.py b/twython/twython.py
index af1e159..c877c5d 100644
--- a/twython/twython.py
+++ b/twython/twython.py
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ from requests_oauthlib import OAuth1
 
 from . import __version__
 from .advisory import TwythonDeprecationWarning
-from .compat import json, urlencode, parse_qsl, quote_plus
+from .compat import json, urlencode, parse_qsl, quote_plus, str
 from .endpoints import api_table
 from .exceptions import TwythonError, TwythonAuthError, TwythonRateLimitError
-from .helpers import _transparent_params
+from .helpers import _encode, _transparent_params
 
 warnings.simplefilter('always', TwythonDeprecationWarning)  # For Python 2.7 >
 
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ class Twython(object):
         # create stash for last call intel
         self._last_call = None
 
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return '<Twython: %s>' % (self.app_key)
+
     def _constructFunc(self, api_call, deprecated_key, **kwargs):
         # Go through and replace any mustaches that are in our API url.
         fn = api_table[api_call]
@@ -346,7 +349,14 @@ class Twython(object):
 
     @staticmethod
     def construct_api_url(base_url, params):
-        return base_url + '?' + '&'.join(['%s=%s' % (Twython.unicode2utf8(key), quote_plus(Twython.unicode2utf8(value))) for (key, value) in params.iteritems()])
+        querystring = []
+        params, _ = _transparent_params(params)
+        params = requests.utils.to_key_val_list(params)
+        for (k, v) in params:
+            querystring.append(
+                '%s=%s' % (_encode(k), quote_plus(_encode(v)))
+            )
+        return '%s?%s' % (base_url, '&'.join(querystring))
 
     def searchGen(self, search_query, **kwargs):
         warnings.warn(
@@ -383,18 +393,3 @@ class Twython(object):
 
         for tweet in self.searchGen(search_query, **kwargs):
             yield tweet
-
-    @staticmethod
-    def unicode2utf8(text):
-        try:
-            if isinstance(text, unicode):
-                text = text.encode('utf-8')
-        except:
-            pass
-        return text
-
-    @staticmethod
-    def encode(text):
-        if isinstance(text, (str, unicode)):
-            return Twython.unicode2utf8(text)
-        return str(text)