Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.07.2008, Page 4

4 | REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE | ISSUE 09—2008
LETTERS
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Dear Grapevine
I read M. Sabey ś letter in The Grape-
vine (Issue 08 - 2008) with a degree of
sympathy, but not much. It talks about
coming to Iceland and being shocked
by the prices charged for food and
drink, and how unacceptable the cost
is to the average tourist.
I find this slightly surprising, parti-
cularly as M. Sabey freely admits she
was warned about the high prices and
is a seasoned traveller. Surely even the
most basic of calculations involving ex-
change rates, google and an up-to-date
guide book (or even an online restau-
rant food and drink menu) would have
spelled out the situation
pretty clearly.
Iceland, in my opinion, is such a
wonderful and beautiful place because
it is so remote, thus meaning a lot of
items like food and drink have to be im-
ported, which means it´ll be expensive
- that ś economics for you. It goes with
the territory and is something I, and
many others, are willing to tolerate in
order to spend time in the most bre-
athtaking country I´ve been fortunate
enough to know well.
Nicola Cassock
London, England.
Dear Nicola,
Hear, hear! That Sabet character did
sound a bit daft, but we can’t really re-
spond to letters calling our readers daft,
can we? So, thanks for taking care of
that!
Dear Grapevine
I read with interest your article on the
politics of the Indiana Jones films. It’s
author, however, seemed to suggested
that Indy’s fight against the Thugee cult
in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom,” was colonialist and possibly ra-
cist. The Thugee cult, however, did in-
deed exist and may have killed as many
as 600.000 people in the course of its
existence. This they did not do out of
any motive to fight foreign oppressors,
but simply because the believed the go-
dess Kali had given them permission to
kill people in order to rob them. At first
the British colonial authorities viewed
the problem as an internal one bet-
ween Indians, and took no action. Only
the valiant efforts of Judge William Sle-
eman, who could speak Hindi, brought
the problem to popular attention and
eradicated the cult. This also brought
a new word into the English language,
“Thug,” the meaning of which is well
appropriate for members of the cult.
Indiana Jones’ struggles against Nazis
and Soviets in other films has drawn
little criticism, and rightly so. But the
Thugees are also worthy villians, even
if they come from the non-European
world. The aforementioned article se-
ems to be written more out of misgui-
ded political correctness, rather than a
knowledge of facts.
Regards,
Valur Gunnarsson
Dear Mr. Gunnarsson,
We thank you for your valid points and
will be sure to give the writer in ques-
tion (nudge, nudge) a proper talking to,
should he ever dare set his foot in our
office again.
Hi, my name is Scott. I am a grade 7
student from the Goodwin Learning
Centre in Brighton, Ontario, Canada.

I have attached a letter and signatures
of all my fellow classmates as we are
trying very hard to raise pebbles for a
memorial path in recognition of the 6
million lives lost in the Holocaust. Our
first year this year, we have collected
250,000, a ways to go from our 6 million
needed.

Could you please try to help by sending
us some pebbles from your country?

Thank you for your help and the read-
ing of my letter. I wish for you to pass
on the good word of our efforts.

Sincerely,

Scott Seguin
18 Deerfield Drive
Brighton, Ontario
K0K 1H0
Dear Scott,
That’s a really ambitious project you
guys are working on. Six million peb-
bles, eh? That’s like... eighteen times the
human population of Iceland. In pebble
form. The Grapevine hereby encourages
every Icelander to send Scott at least
eighteen pebbles. On your marks, get
set, go!
Hi there!
I am currently working on my master
thesis at the department of Musicology
at Aarhus University, Denmark. My sub-
ject is the contemporary alternative
music scene in Reykjavik, and I've got
some specific questions, that I hope so-
meone at Grapevine can help me with.
It shouldn't take more than a couple of
minutes.
1) Approximately, how many musici-
ans are actively involved in the indie
scene? How many are non-musicians
are involved (music industry-people,
journalists etc.)?
2) Can you tell me about the music ma-
gazine Undirtónar? Is it still alive?
3) Can you tell me about the so called
"Cute" generation. Who does it cover,
and are there any controversies about
the term?
Hope you can help.
Best regards and thanks,
Thomas
Dear Thomas,
While the Grapevine is a way credible
source of information, we do hope that
your research for your masters thesis (!)
isn’t limited to writing letters to the edi-
tor. That said, your thesis sounds thril-
ling, and you should make sure to send
us a copy as soon as you finish it. And
here are some answers:
1) There are 834 people actively invol-
ved in the indie scene, and around 14
promoters.
2) Undirtónar hasn’t been published for
at least two years.
3) The “Cute” generation allegedly co-
vers people born from 1974-1985 that
have a propensity for wearing woollen
hats and making plinky-plonky music
on glockenspiels. They proudly sport
the name, and rock pretty hard whilst
doing so.