diff --git a/src/animation.jl b/src/animation.jl
index 48075fe6..77e41d91 100644
--- a/src/animation.jl
+++ b/src/animation.jl
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ immutable AnimatedGif
   filename::Compat.ASCIIString
 end
 
-function gif(anim::Animation, fn = "tmp.gif"; fps::Integer = 20)
+function gif(anim::Animation, fn = tempname()*".gif"; fps::Integer = 20)
   fn = abspath(fn)
 
   try
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index 4b88a5f9..2e9daa31 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -712,7 +712,7 @@ end
 function extractGroupArgs(v::AVec, args...)
     groupLabels = sort(collect(unique(v)))
     n = length(groupLabels)
-    if n > 20
+    if n > 100
         warn("You created n=$n groups... Is that intended?")
     end
     groupIds = Vector{Int}[filter(i -> v[i] == glab, 1:length(v)) for glab in groupLabels]
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 81f022bd..80686061 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -952,7 +952,10 @@ function py_compute_axis_minval(axis::Axis)
     minval = 1.0
     sp = axis.sp
     for series in series_list(axis.sp)
-        minval = min(minval, minimum(abs(series.d[axis[:letter]])))
+        v = series.d[axis[:letter]]
+        if !isempty(v)
+            minval = min(minval, minimum(abs(v)))
+        end
     end
 
     # now if the axis limits go to a smaller abs value, use that instead
diff --git a/src/plot.jl b/src/plot.jl
index e1bcb174..507f6cf6 100644
--- a/src/plot.jl
+++ b/src/plot.jl
@@ -337,9 +337,6 @@ function _plot!(plt::Plot, d::KW, args...)
                         :label => "",
                         :primary => false,
                     )))
-
-                    # don't allow something else to handle it
-                    d[:smooth] = false
                 end
 
             else
@@ -349,6 +346,9 @@ function _plot!(plt::Plot, d::KW, args...)
         end
     end
 
+    # don't allow something else to handle it
+    d[:smooth] = false
+
     # merge in anything meant for plot/subplot/axis
     for kw in kw_list
         for (k,v) in kw
@@ -405,13 +405,15 @@ function _plot!(plt::Plot, d::KW, args...)
     # we'll keep a map of subplot to an attribute override dict.
     # any series which belong to that subplot
     sp_attrs = Dict{Subplot,Any}()
-    for (i,kw) in enumerate(kw_list)
+    for kw in kw_list
         # get the Subplot object to which the series belongs
         sp = get(kw, :subplot, :auto)
+        command_idx = kw[:series_plotindex] - kw_list[1][:series_plotindex] + 1
         sp = if sp == :auto
-            mod1(i,length(plt.subplots))
+            cycle(plt.subplots, command_idx)
+            # mod1(command_idx, length(plt.subplots))
         else
-            slice_arg(sp, i)
+            slice_arg(sp, command_idx)
         end
         sp = kw[:subplot] = get_subplot(plt, sp)
         # idx = get_subplot_index(plt, sp)
@@ -452,7 +454,7 @@ function _plot!(plt::Plot, d::KW, args...)
 
     # this is it folks!
     # TODO: we probably shouldn't use i for tracking series index, but rather explicitly track it in recipes
-    for (i,kw) in enumerate(kw_list)
+    for kw in kw_list
         command_idx = kw[:series_plotindex] - kw_list[1][:series_plotindex] + 1
 
         # # get the Subplot object to which the series belongs