Syntax to access a service via xmlrpc

I found this module http://drupal.org/project/get_server. Apart if this, is there another way?

Ok, took me some time but I found the answer. The key is in drupal_http_request(),

What is the correct syntax, the following doesn't work for me:

  $data = drupal_http_request('http://localhost/d5/services/xmlrpc', array(), 'POST', array('method' => 'node.load', 'nid' => '1'));

I tried this, still I get parser error:

  $request = http_build_query(array('method' => 'node.load', 'nid' => '1'));
  $data = drupal_http_request('http://localhost/d5/services/xmlrpc', array(), 'POST', $request);
  dpm($data);

Syntax should use xmlrpc()

$result = xmlrpc('http://example.com', 'node.load', 1, array());

. (double posting)