Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2011, Blaðsíða 2

120 g Lamburger (lamb), garlic grilled mushrooms, cheese,
lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, sauce Béarnaise and french fries.
Those who taste The Lamburger will hardly be able to believe their taste buds.
THE LAMBURGER
Turninn Höfðatorgi
105 Reykjavik
Tel: 575 7575
Opening hours:
Sun-Wed. 11.00–22.00
Thu-Sat. 11.00–24.00
fabrikkan@fabrikkan.is
www.fabrikkan.is
Gullfoss and Geysir are surely a must-see in
Iceland, but neither is something you eat.
That’s why we have 13 brilliant and creative
hamburgers at Hamborgarafabrikkan
(The Icelandic Hamburger Factory).
Hamborgarafabrikkan would eat Hard Rock
Café for breakfast, but since there is no Hard
Rock Café in Iceland we eat our original
Lamburger with the wonderful Icelandic lamb.
The Reykjavík Grapevine awarded
Hamborgarafabrikkan the “Best Specialty
Burger 2010”. It made us happy. Because we
aim to please. That’s why we only use 100%
fresh high-quality ingredients, directly from the
Icelandic nature.
Attention: Our hamburger buns are not round.
They are square. Does it taste better? You tell us.
Be square and be there.
BE SQUARE AND BE THERE

2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2011
Editorial | Haukur S. Magnússon
The Reykjavík GRapevine
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
www.froken.is
Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
www.saf.is
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
Editor:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
Journalist:
Anna Andersen / anna@grapevine.is
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
advErtising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
PublishEr:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Contributing WritErs:
Jói Kjartans
Paul Fontaine
Bogi Bjarnason
Catharine Fulton
Bob Cluness
Rebecca Louder
Magnús Sveinn Helgason
Egill Helgason
Haukur Már Helgason
Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir
Rebecca Louder
Valur Gunnarsson
Íris Erlingsdóttir
Madeilene T.
Sindri Eldon
Editorial intErns:
Vanessa Schipani / vanessa@grapevine.is
Maroesjka Lavigne / maroesjka@grapevine.is
on-linE nEWs Editor
Paul Fontaine / paul@grapevine.is
art dirECtor:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hoddi@grapevine.is
dEsign:
Páll Hilmarsson / pallih@kaninka.net
PhotograPhEr:
Hörður Sveinsson / hordursveinsson.com
salEs dirECtor:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Guðmundur Rúnar Svansson / grs@grapevine.is
Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is
distribution managEr:
Þórður Guðmundur Hermannsson
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 Octo-
ber. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced
in whole or in part without the written permission
of the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is dis-
tributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir,
Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes, 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 Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for
articles. The opinions expressed are the writers’
own, not the advertisers’).
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
www.grapevine.is
CONTROVERSY
Koddu! Koddu!
Koddu!
Remember those?
AK-X returns!
MUSIC
Harpa!
Lots of Harpa!
ART
More Harpa! and
hair sculptures!
TRAVEL
Horsies!
Wonderful horsies!
EXTREME SPORTS
IN THE ISSUE Issue 5 • 2011 • May 6 - May 19 2011 COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE!+
Can we play now?
Ólafur Elíasson
discusses HARPA
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Harpa, Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Centre, finally opened for business this week with a grand concert featuring
Iceland's Symphony Orchestra. The event was by all accounts a huge success, and Icelanders seem thrilled with the build-
ing, even though the project has been heavily debated and criticised throughout the construction process. "BUT IT'S NOT
YET FINISHED!" says the artist behind Harpa's grand facade, Ólafur Elíasson. In our exclusive interview, Ólafur discusses
Harpa, the creative process, compromise, commerce and ambition. Page 16.
INFO | Haukur Már Helgason
Hi! Happy Harpa! I hope you find whatever it is you’re
looking for in that house, and that you take some time
read our massive and exclusive interview with Ólafur
Elíasson concerning his contribution to it (page 16). My
own personal conclusion is that THE COLLAPSE was in
a sense fortunate, if not only for the fact that it seems to
have prevented the Björgólfurs of the world from further
transforming 101 Reykjavík into an elfin Disneyland mall
(one of the thing Ólafur says is that pre-collabse there
was much pressure to get rid of the ‘music’ bit from the
‘music hall’). We still have the puffin shops to contend
with. Bah.
Now. Iceland finally has a ‘media law’! It’s all confus-
ing and dumb and ill-founded (it really is—read it!), but
still, we now have a concert hall AND a purported law
that deals with our purported media!
However, I am unsure whether it applies to Grape-
vine, since we probably don’t count as part of ‘the me-
dia’. The thought of that made me rage with envy.
I thus drafted GRAPEVINE’S FANCY NEW MEDIA
LAW. It is mostly based on an opinion piece I wrote for
Grapevine back when I was a young, starry-eyed some-
times-reporter (issue 6, 2008), which was mostly written
in response to an interview I had conducted with aspir-
ing populist MP Magnús Þór Hafsteinsson.
Our FANCY NEW MEDIA LAW has no legal stand-
ing, it is vague and parts of it don’t make any sense
whatsoever. But it’s written with good intentions, and
some of it sounds fairly rational. It is thus pretty much on
par with Law no. 38/2011.
If you are a regular contributor to the Grapevine, or
plan on being one, you should read the below and mem-
orise it. Failure to do so will not have any consequences
whatsoever, but then that’s life.
GV Fancy Law no. 1/2011
The below is true:
-A reporter should strive to be fair and balanced.
-She should never let her own views and opinions
colour her reports, articles or interviews.
-And she should strive to always include every
relevant viewpoint in a report, so that her readers may
make an enlightened, informed decision as to where
they stand on a given topic.
-And she should always give her subject the benefit
of the doubt, no matter how contrived, conceited or
downright dumb her views may be. If they are indeed
contrived, conceited and dumb, if they are plainly
wrong, self-serving or hurtful, the reader will be able to
figure that out by herself.
The above is true, and it should be self-evident, even
though it is not always practiced by every member of the
press. As a sometimes-reporter, I try and go by it, and
it’s usually pretty easy. Sometimes it’s difficult, however.
Say when conducting a Q&A with a person that’s pre-
senting a view that at its core goes against everything
I believe, in a way that my conscience finds potentially
harmful. A Q&A, where the format doesn’t allow for you
to invite adversaries to comment or reply to what’s being
stated as truth.
As a reporter, you let your subjects speak their
minds, then subject them to the esteemed reader’s
judgement, letting them dig their own graves if they so
choose. That should be that, but what if you are dealing
with a master rhetorician, one who says one thing whilst
clearly implying another. One who seems clearly inter-
ested in fanning certain flames, say, for his own pur-
poses, but doing so in such a vague and fuzzy manner
that he can never be called on it.
As a reporter, I have occasionally come across
people who clearly presented foul agendas that they
couldn’t be called on, because they knowingly refuse to
call a spade a spade. Hah.
And sometimes, I’ve had no choice but to let their
quotes stand unchallenged, hoping that someone will
write an intelligent letter to the editor opposing it in the
next issue of whatever publication has printed it. Some-
times, I have argued with these people mid-interview –
“just say what we all know you want to say” – and cut it
out of the final story, for I should not present an opinion
in my reports.
But this is an opinion column a media law, not a
news report. So I can allow myself to be as biased and
unfair as I want to. In that grand spirit, here is a list of
things I currently believe, in no particular order, followed
by a much shorter list of things I know to be true.
List of things I believe:
1) I believe that people in general are thoughtful and
well intentioned.
2) I believe that while the above is true, thoughtful and
well-intentioned people may be manipulated to sup-
port irrational (and sometimes dangerous) agendas.
Just look at advertising, and advertising psychology
(sidenote: I also believe “psychological methods to sell
should be destroyed”).
3) I believe this to be especially true when an apparent
crisis strikes—when people start fearing for their liveli-
hoods and safety. An economic one, for instance.
4) I believe fear is a key ingredient in this regard.
5) I believe a certain breed of career politician—the
populist, opportunistic kind—will try and harness the
above for the sake of their various careers and/or agen-
das.
6) I believe that promoting fear and anger in the gen-
eral populace for ones own self-serving purposes is not
only morally deplorable, I believe that it is outright evil.
7) I believe that you can express overtly racist views
without using overtly racist lingo.
8) I likewise believe that you can be a fascist whilst de-
nouncing fascism, that you can be a Nazi without sport-
ing a swastika.
9) I believe that if the Western hemisphere were to
enter an era where fascism, Nazism and racism were
acceptable anew (if it hasn’t already), those isms would
not go under any of their former monikers. That a Hitler
for the 21st century, if that fellow ever shows up, will not
necessarily sport a funny moustache and a German ac-
cent (or a funny beard and a turban for that matter).
10) Finally, I believe that as my fellow Icelanders and I
were born in one of the most prosperous countries on
Earth, we have a huge responsibility to the millions of
humans who weren’t—and suffer for it every day. I be-
lieve the same goes for the rest of the world’s hyper-
privileged contingent.
List of things I know to be true
1) It is true that thirty Serbian and Croatian refugees
welcomed in my hometown of Ísafjörður back in 1996,
during a long and painful bout of recession for the town,
were a fine and welcome addition to the population. I
shared a class with some of them, and even though a
couple had to go through the trouble of acquainting
themselves with the Western alphabet, none of them
have thus far turned to crime or otherwise tried to tear
down the fabric of our great society.
2) It is true that the welcoming of other such groups of
refugees to other such small towns in Iceland over the
last decade has been nothing less than a complete suc-
cess.
3) It is true that at the time of writing, Iceland is one of
the richest, most prosperous nations on Earth [is this
less true now than in June 2008? That might be, but
we’re still pretty damn prosperous].
4) It is nevertheless true that, Iceland’s track record of
welcoming refugees from war-torn or famine struck re-
gions of the world is deplorable. The nation hasn’t been
up to speed in providing aid to those territories, either.
Alright! So there you have it, Grapevine’s Fancy New
Media Law in all its glory! Do let us know if you notice
us blatantly going against the bits of it that make sense,
we’ve yet to establish our MEDIA POLICE JUSTICE
SQUAD TASKFORCE.
GRAPEVINE’S FANCY NEW MEDIA LAW!!!
Since their 2006 debut concert in a Faroe Islands
cave, FM Belfast has been busy rocking audiences all
over Iceland and Europe. In fact, the four-piece, Árni,
Lóa, Árni and Örvar, played at over 50 music festivals
in Europe during last year alone. If you haven’t seen
them live, they also threw a concert in Árni and Lóa’s
backyard and documented it all in a film aptly titled
‘Backyard’. The documentary, which also features a
slew of other energetic Icelandic bands, is now mak-
ing the rounds on the film festival circuit.
In all this time of playing for doting throngs,
though, they’ve only released the one album, ‘How to
Make Friends.’ And that was a good two years ago.
So you can imagine our excitement when FM Belfast
announced they have a new one coming. This one is
called ‘Don’t Want to Sleep’ and it’s out in June via
Morr Music (the world) and Kimi Records (Iceland).
You’ll have to hold tight a little bit longer to hear
the full thing (we have, it’s worth your wait). But in
the meantime, we do have a wonderful track from
that new album for your downloading and listening
pleasures. It’s called ‘New Year’ and it is quite delight-
ful. With their signature throbbing bass and moments
of ‘80s throwback, this is definitely more fun electro
music. So go download it and dance yourself silly in
anticipation for the fantastic sleepless summer that
awaits (assuming it ever stops snowing this year)!
FM Belfast
New Year
TRACK OF THE ISSUE
Download at www.grapevine.is
TRACK
OF THE ISSUE
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grapevine.is
Haukur’s 39th Editorial
Photography: Hvalreki
Illustration: Hristbjörnsson
this.is/trendy
The Creative Economy
Skapandi greinar
Economic principles, diagram 10
!"#$%&'()*%+,'-$""*./0&$"&1+&23%$"4,%56"#+78 © Bíddu a!eins, 2011
* Rough estimate based on current market trends.
*
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Old school culture
per kg.€1
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