Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2011, Page 2

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 4 — 2011
Editorial | Haukur S. Magnússon
The Reykjavík GRapevine
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
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Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
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Editor:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
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Contributing WritErs:
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl
Bob Cluness
Hildur Lilliendahl
Magnús Sveinn Helgason
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl
Paul Fontaine
Egill Helgason
Ragnar Egilsson
Marc Vincenz
Valur Gunnarsson
Morgan Levy
Madeilene T.
Anna Margrét Björnsson
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Steve Ganey / steve@grapevine.is
Vanessa Schipani / vanessa@grapevine.is
on-linE nEWs Editor
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THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
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FASHION
RFF 2011
in retrospect
Are Icelanders
true romantics?
TRANSPORT
How can Rvk's bus
system suck less?
MUSIC
What a mess!
What a mess!
TRAVEL
GOLDEN CIRCLE
remains golden
LOVE
IN THE ISSUE Issue 4 • 2011 • April 8 - May 5 2011 COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE!+
Full schedule
inside
The small size of Iceland's population ensures that practically all Icelandic writing represents the nation as a
whole, regardless of the author's intentions (statistically, only around 0,0046% of all words uttered in the world are
in Icelandic). Icelandic literature thus tends to mainly represent Iceland to Icelanders, shaping their collective
self-image. The 2008 crash had a profound effect on the people of Iceland. But how did this manifest in said
inward conversation? Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl explores the crisis in Icelandic literature. Page 12
Drugs, Alienation,
Loneliness
and Murder
Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
Hi, readers!
Here is a letter I received from a friend of mine the other
day:
Hi Haukur,
Couldn't help but notice the little hubbub about
the Grapevine satirical piece about celebrity.
I was curious, after talking to some locals—
am I right in noticing that the Icelandic right
to protect one's reputation above all else is
still rated higher than free speech? How does
this fit with the whole WIKILEAKS scenario? From
what I hear, Iceland is very far from free speech
at the moment, as, say, writing about a banker
bankrupting a nation would be insulting to his
reputation. I've heard DV, for example, got into
a strange jam over Eiður Smári.
Best regards,
[redacted]
Here is my reply to that letter:
Hey there,
yeah, it was all over the place yesterday. I
thought that was amusing. I wasn't exactly excit-
ed though, such hubbub is maybe OK for stirring
up interest but it gets tiresome and I am usually
void of hope wading through it. Or, I don't know.
I suppose it's good that people are talking about
and assessing what we're doing or trying to do.
I’m not going to publicly respond though. That
would only drag the issue along and I’ve seen
enough such cases here over the past decades
to not be interested at all. But I should email
the offended celebrity, it wasn’t our intention
to hurt her feelings (wonder if she’s read Mad
Magazine ever), even though her complaints are
mostly ludicrous.
You are correct in your assumption about
our slander scene. It's pretty big. All the
útrásarvíkingar are going around suing journal-
ists and threatening to sue journalists. The
newspaper DV—which has really been the only
source of hope for those interested ‘investi-
gative journalism’—was recently slapped with a
restraining order for printing and discussing
'classified' Landsbanki emails that reveal how
banksters and insiders vacuumed its funds while
engaging in obviously criminal activities. Bank-
sters’ complaints are usually entertained. No
one is willing to answer for themselves under
anything less than their own hand-made terms,
and even then they are reluctant.
And somehow our community continues to let
this happen, even though rage and resistance
also seems brewing (if not festering). It results
in a very tense atmosphere that is not very fun
to partake in.
Oh, and, Icesave.
On the other end we have the Pressan/Bleikt.
is style of stories and journalism. It is naive
and escapist drivel that seems to be meant to
divert attention away from real issues and prob-
lems and it could even be successful if they
weren't so plain awful at their jobs (maybe some-
thing like 'entertaining escapist drivel' ex-
ists, but it's not to be found there).
(One wonders: would young radicals of the
sixties (and further into the past) have been
effective (assuming they were effective) had they
had access so much disposable and highly enter-
taining dreck available at every instance of
every minute for their masturbatory pleasures?
Facebook? Geez, I sound like an old curmudgeon.
“Those kids with their fancy ‘entertainment’ and
‘electronic music’, who do the think they are!?”
[angrily shakes cane at world])
What I find funny about the WikiLeaks/IMMI
press we've been receiving is that it's so far
from being warranted or merited that it doesn't
really border on the absurd—it long since top-
pled entirely over the line. Like, totally ab-
surd. All you can do is laugh. Hahaha. I also
fail to understand how making Iceland a free
press haven (which surely is the government
sponsored initiative's goal) fits in with the
same government's plan to create an entity called
'Fjölmiðlastofa' ("The Media Agency") which is
meant to monitor and police Iceland publishing
and broadcasting.
And also the way our supreme courts work, and
our courts. Any Jónas Kristjánsson rant on the
matter is a great truth and should be taken se-
riously (I really like Jónas Kristjánsson lately.
Maybe that’s why I’m sounding like an old curmud-
geon).
The DV/Eiður Smári case is in that vein. He
reportedly had some shady business dealings in
his past that DV reported on (from what I un-
derstand—I didn’t really read the story as Eiður
Smári doesn’t interest me and there are plenty of
shady business dealings to read about). He sued
them and won, and the public generally sided with
the footballer as far as I could tell, saying he
had his right to a private life and these were
unfair and mean spirited attacks.
Anyway. Nice hearing from you. Hope to see
you back in Iceland SOON.
Love,
Haukur SM
So that’s an exchange I had last week. I was thinking
about that then. Fun times. Don’t know if it’s relevant, or if
I even still agree with myself, but felt for some reason that
I should share it. If you disagree, send me a letter. I am
always disagreeing with myself, so I won’t be offended.
This week, I am thinking about different things. Like
the Reykjavík Music Mess and Aldrei fór ég suður music
festivals that are coming up. They are very exciting! Mu-
sic is lovely and exciting! And some art I saw this week-
end. My family. Icesave (whoo! Icesave! What will we talk
about when it’s gone?). My cats, and the bus system. Oh,
and all the cool people that will visit Iceland this sum-
mer—boosting our tourism income ISK!
Go read Eiríkur Örn’s feature. It is most enlightening.
Then, have a great April. I love you all dearly.
READ MY PRIVATE EMAIL, WON’T YOU?
By now, y’all are probably EXPLODING with excite-
ment about the upcoming Reykjavík Music Mess
bash that’ll be happening in JUST ONE WEEK! Yes!
A week from now, you will be happily hopping along
to some great performances by some very choice
musicians, forgetting all your horrible life-pain for a
moment of singing along.
You will laugh, you will cry, you will get drunk,
vomit, pass out, wake up, laugh some more, spend
all your money, score an overdraft, drink some more,
stand in line for the bathroom, lose your phone, slap
some hi-fives, regrettably forget your childhood
BFF’s birthday and inadvertently offend some guy
you had no idea cherished the times you shared at
Iceland Airwaves 2006 and can’t get over the fact
that you’ve got better stuff to do with your time than
remembering his sorry ass. In short, it will be a god-
damn blast.
Does this sound like all too much hype? It
probably does, huh. But there’s just no way we can
express our excited-ness about this ‘music mess’
thing. It has it all. Thirty high quality musical acts,
and five of them VISITORS FROM ABROAD who we
almost never get to see. And goddamn Deerhunter.
(Also, it will provide the perfect opportunity to
get all hyped up for the upcoming ALDREI FÓR ÉG
SUÐUR awesomeness in Ísafjörður, which happens
the weekend after. Who would have thunk April (the
cruellest month!) would prove such a big provider of
musical joy?).
Anyway, to help y’all get SUPER GADDAMN
PUMPED for the ‘mess, the good people behind it
have compiled a fancy compilation for your down-
loading and listening pleasures. Check it out—it has
the following artists and tracks:
Mugison—Haglél // Hellvar—Ding an Sich // Lower
Dens—I Get Nervous // Nolo—Skelin mín // Prin-
spóló—Niðrá strönd // Nive Nielsen & Deer Chil-
dren—Room // Samaris—Hljóma þú // Miri—Drekar //
AMFJ—Retoría // Tomutonttu—Luominen jäi kesken
// FOSSILS—Deadringer // Reykjavík!—INTERNET
// Swords of Chaos—Ill-gotten Gains // Lazyblood—
Volcanos and Babies // Sudden Weather Change—
Sharp // Sudden Ghostigital—Good Morning
REYKJAVÍK MUSIC MESS: YR. FANCY
GRAPEVINE SAMPLER!
TRACK COMPILATION OF THE ISSUE
Download at www.grapevine.is
TRACK
COMPILATION
OF THE ISSUE
Download at
grapevine.is
ARE YOU A DESIGNER? WANT TO CREATE A REYKJAVIK GRAPEVINE COVER?
STAY TUNED TO WWW.GRAPEVINE.IS NEXT WEEK FOR YOUR CHANCE TO
EXPRESS YOURSELF IN A RATHER CONSPICUOUS MANNER.
Haukur’s 38th Editorial
Photography: Marinó Thorlacius
marinot.com
Art Direction: Hristbjörnsson
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