My fault. Ok, so replace ($gorp, $slug, @args) = shift() with ($gorp,$slug) = @_ and you get what I meant, ah well. Please shoot me for only testing with functions taking a single parameter :)

This stupid mistake of mine was related to me thinking @_ would be accidentally closed around the first block, which isn't true, because @_ is magic... (I was always using @_ before, so, umh, that's why it's odd).