Investigation into why a function used as a `@staticmethod` causes Python to enter into a recursive death spin while using it as a stand-alone function operates as expected.

Fails.py

import simplejson as json

from django.db import models
from django_hstore import hstore


class HStoreJsonDict(hstore.DictionaryField):
    @staticmethod
    def _unpack_json(value):
        try:
            value = json.loads(value)
        except TypeError:
            pass
        return value

    @staticmethod
    def _load_json(value):
        try:
            value = json.dumps(value)
        except Exception as e:
            # Is this needed?
            print(value, e)
            pass
        return value

    def __getattribute__(self, key):
        value = super(HStoreJsonDict, self).__getattribute__(key)
        return self._unpack_json(value)

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        value = super(HStoreJsonDict, self).__getattribute__(key)
        return self._unpack_json(value)

    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
        value = self._load_json(value)        
        return super(HStoreJsonDict, self).__setattr__(key, value)

class TestModel(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=64)
    data = HStoreJsonDict(db_index=True)
    objects = hstore.HStoreManager()

# Traceback (most recent call last):
#   File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
#     execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 443, in execute_from_command_line
#     utility.execute()
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 382, in execute
#     self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 196, in run_from_argv
#     self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 231, in execute
#     self.validate()
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 266, in validate
#     num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 30, in get_validation_errors
#     for (app_name, error) in get_app_errors().items():
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/loading.py", line 158, in get_app_errors
#     self._populate()
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/loading.py", line 64, in _populate
#     self.load_app(app_name, True)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/loading.py", line 88, in load_app
#     models = import_module('.models', app_name)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
#     __import__(name)
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 38, in <module>
#     class TestModel(models.Model):
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 40, in TestModel
#     data = HStoreJsonDict(db_index=True)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django_hstore/fields.py", line 36, in __init__
#     super(HStoreField, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
#   File "/home/alukach/.virtualenvs/keyvalue/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py", line 83, in __init__
#     self.name = name
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 35, in __setattr__
#     value = self._load_json(value)        
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 28, in __getattribute__
#     return self._unpack_json(value)
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 28, in __getattribute__
#     return self._unpack_json(value)
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 28, in __getattribute__
#     return self._unpack_json(value)
#   ...
#   File "/home/alukach/Projects/keyvalue-django-model-tests/events/models.py", line 28, in __getattribute__
#     return self._unpack_json(value)
# RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded

Succeeds.py

import simplejson as json

from django.db import models
from django_hstore import hstore

def _unpack_json(value):
    try:
        value = json.loads(value)
    except TypeError:
        pass
    return value

class HStoreJsonDict(hstore.DictionaryField):
    @staticmethod
    def _load_json(value):
        try:
            value = json.dumps(value)
        except Exception as e:
            # Is this needed?
            print(value, e)
            pass
        return value

    def __getattribute__(self, key):
        value = super(HStoreJsonDict, self).__getattribute__(key)
        return _unpack_json(value)

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        value = super(HStoreJsonDict, self).__getitem__(key)
        return _unpack_json(value)

    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
        value = self._load_json(value)
        return super(HStoreJsonDict, self).__setattr__(key, value)

class TestModel(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=64)
    data = HStoreJsonDict(db_index=True)
    objects = hstore.HStoreManager()