diff --git a/display.py b/display.py
index f0563b6a75120e5c66ae8cece954640a8addb652..14820797de908ddfbdf541a30f942123bfbe8fcc 100644
--- a/display.py
+++ b/display.py
@@ -24,29 +24,63 @@ import fcntl
 import time
 import textwrap
 import subprocess
+import logging
 
 from struct import unpack, pack
 from termios import TIOCGWINSZ
 
 from ammsml.utils.color import stringc
-from ammsml.utils.parsing import to_text
+from ammsml.utils.parsing import to_text, boolean
 from ammsml.utils.errors import AMMSMLError
 from ammsml.utils.singleton import Singleton, with_metaclass
 from ammsml.config import constants as C
 from ammsml.utils.wrap import wrap_var
 
 
+class FilterBlackList(logging.Filter):
+    def __init__(self, blacklist):
+        self.blacklist = [logging.Filter(name) for name in blacklist]
+
+    def filter(self, record):
+        return not any(f.filter(record) for f in self.blacklist)
+
+
+logger = None
+# TODO: make this a callback event instead
+# if getattr(C, 'DEFAULT_LOG_PATH'):
+#     path = C.DEFAULT_LOG_PATH
+#     if path and (os.path.exists(path) and os.access(path, os.W_OK)) or os.access(os.path.dirname(path), os.W_OK):
+#         logging.basicConfig(filename=path, level=logging.INFO, format='%(asctime)s p=%(user)s u=%(process)d | %(message)s')
+#         logger = logging.LoggerAdapter(logging.getLogger('ammsml'), {'user': getpass.getuser()})
+#         for handler in logging.root.handlers:
+#             handler.addFilter(FilterBlackList(getattr(C, 'DEFAULT_LOG_FILTER', [])))
+#     else:
+#         print("[WARNING]: log file at %s is not writeable and we cannot create it, aborting\n" % path, file=sys.stderr)
+
+
+# map color to log levels
+# TODO may be better in utils.color?
+color_to_log_level = {C.COLOR_ERROR: logging.ERROR,
+                      C.COLOR_WARN: logging.WARNING,
+                      C.COLOR_OK: logging.INFO,
+                      C.COLOR_SKIP: logging.WARNING,
+                      # C.COLOR_UNREACHABLE: logging.ERROR,
+                      C.COLOR_DEBUG: logging.DEBUG,
+                      # C.COLOR_CHANGED: logging.INFO,
+                      C.COLOR_DEPRECATE: logging.WARNING,
+                      C.COLOR_VERBOSE: logging.INFO}
+
 b_COW_PATHS = (
-    b"/usr/bin/cowsay",
-    b"/usr/games/cowsay",
-    b"/usr/local/bin/cowsay",  # BSD path for cowsay
-    b"/opt/local/bin/cowsay",  # MacPorts path for cowsay
+    b'/usr/bin/cowsay',
+    b'/usr/games/cowsay',
+    b'/usr/local/bin/cowsay',  # BSD path for cowsay
+    b'/opt/local/bin/cowsay',  # MacPorts path for cowsay
 )
 
 
 class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
 
-    def __init__(self, verbosity: int=0):
+    def __init__(self, verbosity: int = 0):
 
         self.columns = None
         self.verbosity = verbosity
@@ -100,8 +134,7 @@ class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
             else:
                 msg2 = msg
 
-            msg2 = to_text(msg2)
-
+            msg2 = to_text(msg2, self._output_encoding(stderr=stderr))
             if not stderr:
                 fileobj = sys.stdout
             else:
@@ -136,8 +169,8 @@ class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
         return self.verbose(msg, host=host, caplevel=5)
 
     def debug(self, msg, host=None):
-        # TODO TODO
-        if C.DEFAULT_DEBUG:
+        # TODO boolean() neccesary?
+        if boolean(C.DEFAULT_DEBUG):
             if host is None:
                 self.display("%6d %0.5f: %s" % (os.getpid(), time.time(), msg), color=C.COLOR_DEBUG)
             else:
@@ -263,7 +296,7 @@ class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
             result = default
 
         # handle utf-8 chars
-        result = to_text(result, errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+        result = to_text(result)
 
         if unsafe:
             result = wrap_var(result)
@@ -272,11 +305,6 @@ class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
     @staticmethod
     def _output_encoding(stderr=False):
         encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding()
-        # https://bugs.python.org/issue6202
-        # Python2 hardcodes an obsolete value on Mac.  Use MacOSX defaults
-        # instead.
-        if encoding in ('mac-roman',):
-            encoding = 'utf-8'
         return encoding
 
     def _set_column_width(self):