--- util.py     2007-03-10 17:57:13.213837906 +0100
+++ util.py.orig        2007-03-10 17:57:00.293643008 +0100
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@
         else:
             s = unicode(str(s), settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
     elif not isinstance(s, unicode):
-        s = unicode(s, settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
+        try:
+            s = unicode(s, settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
+       except UnicodeError:
+           s = s.decode('ascii', 'replace')
     return s

 
 class StrAndUnicode(object):