Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.06.2009, Blaðsíða 2

2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7 — 2009
On Cover:
Wouldn't you like to
know...
Printed by Landsprent
ehf. in 25.000 copies.
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
Advertising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
Publisher:
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Publisher:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson
hilmar@grapevine.is
Editor:
Haukur S Magnússon
haukur@grapevine.is
Journalist:
Catharine Fulton / catharine@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
Sigurður K Kristinsson
sigurdur@grapevine.is
Florian Zühlke / f lorian@grapevine.is
Sindri Eldon
Marc Vincenz
Irina Domurath
Sari Peltonen
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl
Dr. Gunni
Bart Cameron
Valur Gunnarsson
Þórir Georg Jónsson
Editorial Interns:
Jonathan Baker Esq
jonathan@grapevine.is
Joyce Guzowski
joyce@grapevine.is
On-line News Editor
Paul Nikolov
paulnikolov@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson
hoddi@grapevine.is
Design:
Björn Lárus Arnórsson
Photographer:
Julia Staples / www.juliastaples.com
Marketing Director:
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson
jontrausti@grapevine.is
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson
adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Guðmundur Rúnar Svansson
grs@grapevine.is
Distribution:
Samúel Bjarnason
distribution@grapevine.is
Proofreader:
Jim Rice
Press releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submissions inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
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+354 540 3605 / subscribe@grapevine.is
General inquiries: grapevine@grapevine.is
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18
times a year by Fröken ltd. Monthly from
November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this
magazine may be reproduced in whole or
in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine
is distributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri,
Egilsstaðir, Selfoss, Kef lavík, Ísafjörður and
at key locations along road #1, and all major
tourist attractions and tourist information
centres in the country.
You may not like it, but at least it's not
sponsored. (No articles in the Rey-
kjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles.
The opinions expressed are the writers’
own, not the advertisers’).
Early in the AM: Sun is rising over Rey-
kjavík, Metallica’s Orion blasting over
the stereo, coffee’s on the pot and a gentle
haze covers the mind. This is truly one
of those moments you appreciate. Well.
I do.
There’s a lot to appreciate out there,
you know. Cats, books, tradition, obscu-
rity, pizza, landscape, music, grandpar-
ents, grace, people in general. They’re all
pretty good, and there’s lots more, too. I
try and appreciate most things, and so
should you. It makes for a pleasant life,
full of... appreciation. Yeah.
But still. You can’t go around appreci-
ating stuff all the time without griping at
shit too. And there’s lots of shit to gripe
at. You and me (and everyone we know),
we’re all masters of our own destiny,
right? Our world, society and communi-
ty are all made up of a bunch of folks that
collectively decides what kind of world,
society and community we inhabit (and
if you choose not to decide, someone’s
always ready to do that for you). So if we
only focus on appreciating how nice piz-
za and grandmothers and cats are while
ignoring some fundamental stuff that’s
PLAIN WRONG... well, it’s gonna stay
that way.
In that spirit, here is a short list of
stuff that bugs the fuck out of me at the
moment:
» The prices at 10-11 in Austurstræt i:
Goddamnit, a sandwich ain’t supposed
to cost that much. It just ain’t.
» A lot of what the new government is do-
ing (or isn’t doing): Tell it like it is! Arrest
some banksters already! Quit bickering!
Do something – anything!
» How those bastards turned the ol’
Staðarskáli rest-stop into just another
wretched gas station: We wrote a eulogy
for the old one in issue 14 of last year
(“The inevitability of homogenisation”),
already knowing that the planned N1
gas-mall replacement was going to suck
hard. We still failed to envision just how
badly our memories of beloved Old Ice-
land were going to be stomped into the
ground, how fitting a metaphor the
transformation would prove for how we
never once hesitate to abandon what’s
unique or meaningful for the sake of
purported profit.
» Easily preventable famine!
» Forced 3rd world poverty!
» Corporate slavery!
» War-crimes!
» War-profiteering
» Torture!
» Hypocrites & parasites!!
» The death of empathy!
Phew. That felt good. Complaining
usually does, even if it’s about fairly in-
significant stuff. Yet, griping doesn’t
seem to work all that well all of the time.
Sometimes you need more than just loud
complaining. The squeaky wheel gets
the grease – the raging, yelling, rioting
wheel gets a goddamn bunch of fuckin’
lube. Time has told, time will tell.
This is where our activist friends - the
ones you’ll learn about in our feature
story – come in. Regardless of whether or
not you approve of their message and in-
tent, you should acknowledge that their
spirit, stamina and vigour are admirable.
Here you have a group of young people
hell-bent on challenging a system they
see as inherently unfair; folks standing
up for what they believe in and serving
as active agents in their community. This
is pretty cool and exemplary, unless they
start resorting to violence or bombs or
stuff.
Violence against your brothers and sis-
ters is not cool, ever.
Lóa is one of the Grapevine comic
artists. As well as doing our comix,
she runs a prominent downtown
hangout, Karamba.
Editorial
Haukur’s 7th Editorial!
Comic strips
— by Óttar Norðfjörð And Elo Vásquez
— by Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
— by Hugleikur Dagsson
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Geysir Hafnarstræti 5 - 101 Reykjavík. Tel: 555 2808
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