Impresion de registro Mysql en Xml -> Feed

[hackcrack]

Lo solucione con esta clase que reemplaza los caracteres, aunque me gustaria algo que sea mas simplificado y directo..pero bue..

function optimizar_texto($variable){
$variable = str_replace("á","á",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("é","é",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("í","í",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("ó","ó",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("ú","ú",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("Á","Á",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("É","É",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("Í","I",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("Ó","Ó",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("Ú","Ú",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("ñ","ñ",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("¡","¡",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("¿","¿",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("“","“",$variable);
$variable = str_replace("”","”",$variable);

return $variable;
}

Ahora tengro que eliminar los caracteres html ya que sino no funciona, segun parece :$