Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2009, Page 2

Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2009, Page 2
2 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 13 — 2009 Cover Photo: Baldur Kristjánsson www.baldurkristjans.is On Cover: Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson Make-up: Karin Kristjana Hindborg Thanks: Jói Kjartans, Fornbókabúðin Hverfisgata 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 / mysticmarc@gmail.com Ian Watson Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl Dr. Gunni Hildur Knútsdóttir Hugleikur Dagsson Bogi Bjarnason Ragnar Jón Hrólfsson Satu Ramo Bergrún Anna Hallsteinsdóttir Sigtryggur Baldursson Food Editor: Sari Peltonen Editorial Interns: Rebecca Louder / rlouder@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 / juliastaples.com Marketing Director: Jón Trausti Sigurðarson jontrausti@grapevine.is Sales Director: Aðalsteinn Jörundsson adalsteinn@grapevine.is Guðmundur Rúnar Svansson grs@grapevine.is Distribution: Sæmundur Þór Helgason distribution@grapevine.is Proofreader: Jim Rice Press releases: listings@grapevine.is Submissions inquiries: editor@grapevine.is Subscription inquiries: +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’). So, this has been a pretty good summer, all things considered. We enjoyed some pretty good weather, drank some pretty good beers and saw some sights. We travelled around the country and pitched our tents, hiking up hills and mountains, seeking out seclusion, serenity and warm streams to bathe in. We stayed in the city for the weekend, going to shows, spending money at bars, pissing away our youth along with our brain cells and our souls. We hung out with our families and friends, sharing memories and creating new ones, enjoying talks and walks and snacks. We hung out by ourselves, watching TV, reading books, listening to the rain or to our massive collection of illegal mp3s. It was a pretty good summer. It’s not over yet, not quite. But it’s fast drawing to a close. And if I am to believe the local media and the general discourse, we are slowly sinking into what will be a harsh and ugly and evil winter. A long, cold and potentially deadly one. Unemployment rates will rise. Folks will file for bankruptcy. They will lose their homes, their cars. They will all become alcoholics, and their children will all drop out of school and become terminally depressed dope fiends. Now we will finally start feeling the full, dull force of Kreppa in our faces. Summer was a welcome relief, as it often is in Iceland. We had our nice weather and we had our days off and we were maybe able to coast along financially OK, even though our economy is just as collapsed as it was at the start of the year and stuff keeps getting more expensive by the day. We also had steady influx of currency – sweet, sweet currency – to the country courtesy of you guys, the tourists. This, I am told, helped. A lot. But hey, guess what. The main tourist season is drawing to a close. This means there will be fewer and fewer of you lovely folks and your lovely money around. Your lovely conversation and asking for direction. Your lovely fluorescent outdoorsy wear and your lovely letters to us. You will all be missed immensely. In fact, I find myself compelled to plead to you guys: please, don’t go! Don’t leave! Come back! We need you! We miss you already! You and your fun ways and your sweet currencies. You enrich our lives, our wallets, and you make us feel like we live in an actual operating city. And that is a nice feeling. Should you decide to leave despite my pleading, I nevertheless implore you to ponder the consequences. Just think about all the poor kids that won’t be able to attend music school this winter because their homeland is bankrupt and lacks foreign currency. Think about Kreppa-ravaged Iceland, the poor, poor folks that rely on your patronage to make ends meet. Please don’t go. Also, if you stay, there’s plenty of fun and interesting things happening here in the winter. Despite what some folks might tell you, Iceland is actually quite nice in the wintertime. It’s got snow and aurora borealis and beautiful frosty mornings where time seems to stand still along with the air and atmosphere. You can go skiing. We have excellent ski slopes. And you can go hiking if you are properly equipped to do so. Not on the highlands, pray tell, but a lot of other places. Icelandic winter is also an excellent place for drinking cocoa, feasting on food and fine wine by candlelight, burying oneself in the snow. It’s outright excellent, I tell you. Please don’t go! Tourist season, don’t end! We need you! Also, there’s all the festivals. All those excellent festivals. There’s the Iceland Airwaves festival. That awesome pile of awesomeness, good music, good drinking and general debauchery. There’s the Reykjavík International Film Festival. That’s pretty awesome as well. Aldrei fór ég suður. Crazy January shows, Christmas and the New Year’s Eve that has seen Quentin Tarantino fly over repeatedly to gorge on liquor that he hates. Please don’t go, tourists. We need you and your currency and your company. Editorial | Haukur Magnússon Haukur’s 13th Editorial! Please Tourists, Don’t Leave + COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE! THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELANDYOUR FREE COPY Issue No 13 – August 28 - September 10 – 2009 Political science professor Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson is often referred to as the Independence Party’s chief ideologue, and has been credited with laying down the lines for the massive de-regulation and privatisation process Iceland underwent during the past two decades. Some thanked him for the prosperity, now he is being blamed for the downfall. PG. 19. Complete Reykjavík Listings Lots Of Cool Events Opinions! Reviews! Comix! + Experience Mývatn Via Pizza: Tasty Nature An Icelandic Slasher Flick: Finally Culture Night: Lots Of Waffles Blönduós: Breeding Confusion Sailing To The Faeroes: No Mean Feat + www.grapevine.is Architect of the Collapse? Can a set of well argued ideas lead a nation straight to bankruptcy? HANNES HÓLMSTEINN: Visit our stores: Geysir Haukadal, Selfoss. Tel: 480 6803 Geysir Hafnarstræti 5, 101 Reykjavík. Tel: 555 2808 The socks are knitted of Icelandic wool, which repels rain to remain feeling dry. NEVER COLD – AUTHENTIC ICELANDIC ULLARSOKKAR Choose from our assortment of traditional Icelandic wool products and the largest gift and souvenir selection in Iceland. gogoyoko presents: Grand rokk / Friday September 4 / 22:00 / 1.000 ISK Admission Dr. Gunni Hellvar INSOL Blóð GRAPEVINE GRAND ROCK So Egill Sæbjörnsson finally released a new record. This is of course great news for folks that love music. Egill Sæbjörnsson – or Egill S. as he now prefers to be known for some reason - made the most awesome Tonk Of The Lawn some years back. It was jam- packed with great tracks and had one of music’s catchiest lines ever. “I love you so, I find you crazy.” We just got a copy of his eponymous new one, and it sounds real good on our computer speakers, and we are really looking forward to digging into it. Go fetch our track of the issue to find out for yourself. Egill S. When I Walk egillsaebjornsson Download the free track of the issue WHEN I WALK at www.grapevine.is TRACK OF THE ISSUE Download your free copy at grapevine.is MUSIC & NIGHT LIFE

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