diff --git a/test/v2/playbook/test_task.py b/test/v2/playbook/test_task.py
index eef422aee88..124fc1bc984 100644
--- a/test/v2/playbook/test_task.py
+++ b/test/v2/playbook/test_task.py
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ basic_shell_task = dict(
    shell = 'echo hi'
 )
 
+kv_shell_task = dict(
+   action = 'shell echo hi'
+)
+
 class TestTask(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
@@ -36,6 +40,17 @@ class TestTask(unittest.TestCase):
         assert t.args == 'echo hi'
 
     def test_can_load_action_kv_form(self):
+        t = Task.load(kv_shell_task)
+        assert t.action == 'shell'
+        assert t.args == 'echo hi'
+
+    def test_can_auto_name(self):
+        assert 'name' not in kv_shell_task
+        t = Task.load(kv_shell_task)
+        print "GOT NAME=(%s)" % t.name
+        assert t.name == 'shell echo hi'
+
+    def test_can_auto_name_with_role(self):
         pass
 
     def test_can_load_action_complex_form(self):
diff --git a/v2/ansible/playbook/attribute.py b/v2/ansible/playbook/attribute.py
index 1a22f3dbdbc..a10da490c7f 100644
--- a/v2/ansible/playbook/attribute.py
+++ b/v2/ansible/playbook/attribute.py
@@ -18,10 +18,13 @@
 #from ansible.common.errors import AnsibleError
 
 class Attribute(object):
-    def __init__(self, isa=None, private=False):
+
+    def __init__(self, isa=None, private=False, default=None):
+
        self.isa = isa
        self.private = private
        self.value = None
+       self.default = default
 
     def __call__(self):
        return self.value
diff --git a/v2/ansible/playbook/base.py b/v2/ansible/playbook/base.py
index 825e9171ff8..6390f3432f3 100644
--- a/v2/ansible/playbook/base.py
+++ b/v2/ansible/playbook/base.py
@@ -23,10 +23,11 @@ class Base(object):
      
         # each class knows attributes set upon it, see Task.py for example 
         self._attributes = dict()
-        for name in self.__class__.__dict__:
+
+        for (name, value) in self.__class__.__dict__.iteritems():
             aname = name[1:]
-            if isinstance(aname, Attribute) and not isinstance(aname, FieldAttribute):
-                self._attributes[aname] = None
+            if isinstance(value, Attribute):
+                self._attributes[aname] = value.default
 
     def munge(self, ds):
         ''' infrequently used method to do some pre-processing of legacy terms '''
@@ -94,9 +95,16 @@ class Base(object):
 
     def __getattr__(self, needle):
 
-        # return any attribute names as if they were real.
-        # access them like obj.attrname()
+        # return any attribute names as if they were real
+        # optionally allowing masking by accessors
+
+        if not needle.startswith("_"):
+            method = "get_%s" % needle
+            if method in self.__dict__:
+                return method(self)
+
         if needle in self._attributes:
             return self._attributes[needle]
 
         raise AttributeError("attribute not found: %s" % needle)
+
diff --git a/v2/ansible/playbook/task.py b/v2/ansible/playbook/task.py
index 6ab9231ba10..a3324bbba3b 100644
--- a/v2/ansible/playbook/task.py
+++ b/v2/ansible/playbook/task.py
@@ -87,9 +87,6 @@ class Task(Base):
     _transport            = FieldAttribute(isa='string')
     _until                = FieldAttribute(isa='list') # ?
 
-    _role                 = Attribute()
-    _block                = Attribute()
-
     def __init__(self, block=None, role=None):
         ''' constructors a task, without the Task.load classmethod, it will be pretty blank '''
         self._block = block
@@ -99,10 +96,24 @@ class Task(Base):
     def get_name(self):
        ''' return the name of the task '''
 
-       if self.role:
-           return "%s : %s" % (self.role.get_name(), self.name)
-       else:
+       if self._role and self.name:
+           return "%s : %s" % (self._role.name, self.name)
+       elif self.name:
            return self.name
+       else:
+           return "%s %s" % (self.action, self._merge_kv(self.args))
+
+    def _merge_kv(self, ds):
+        if ds is None:
+           return ""
+        elif isinstance(ds, basestring):
+           return ds
+        elif instance(ds, dict):
+           buf = ""
+           for (k,v) in ds.iteritems():
+               buf = buf + "%s=%s " % (k,v)
+           buf = buf.strip()
+           return buf
 
     @staticmethod
     def load(data, block=None, role=None):