Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.06.2011, 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 8 — 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:
Bob Cluness
Emily Burton
Paul Fontaine
Magnús Sveinn Helgason
Valur Gunnarsson
Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson
Hilmar Magnússon
Stacy Steinberg
Sindri Eldon
Egill Helgason
Eimear Fitzgerald
Kári Tulinius
Nadja Sayej
Ragnar Egilsson
Madeleine T.
Marc Vincenz
Snorri Páll Úlfhildarson Jónsson
Haukur Már Helgason
Irina Domurath
Editorial intErns:
Felix Jimenez Gonzalez / felix@grapevine.is
Maroesjka Lavigne / maroesjka@grapevine.is
Marta Bardón Moreno / marta@grapevine.is
José Angel Hernández García / jose@grapevine.is
S. Alessio Tummolillo / alessio@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 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, Seyðis-
fjörður, 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’).
Oh no
It’s happening again!

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
www.grapevine.is
ICELAND
"Today we celebrate
our Independence
Day!" (for real)
Why is everybody
always picking on Geir?
CULTURE
Skjaldborg is an
hour behind
MUSIC
Tunng & Tango
TRAVEL
A fancy pullout
dedicated to...
POLITICS
IN THE ISSUE Issue 8 • 2011 • June 17 - 30 COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE!+
GusGus & FM Belfast Rise Above The Rest
TWIN PEAKS
FM Belfast just released an awesome new record that's already being hailed as one of the year's best. As did GusGus. Listening to their
awesome new records one must conclude that they surely are some sort of 'Twin Peaks' of Icelandic electronic music. One might even ask
them to dress for the occasion... Starring Árni Rúnar as 'The Giant', Lóa Hlín as 'The Log Lady', Earth as 'Nadine Hurley', Högni Egilsson as
'Bob', President Bongo as 'The Ghost of Bob', Árni Vilhjálmsson as 'Sheriff Harry S. Truman', Veiran as 'Special Agent Dale Cooper', Örvar Þ.S.
as 'Laura Palmer' and introducing Daníel Ágúst as 'The Man From Another Place'. Page 20
Hi,
I thought I would write down some handy tips on how you
can ‘make the most of your stay in Reykjavík and Iceland’.
Why? Well, I imagine some of you reading this are tour-
ists (this seems logical enough) and those guys often need
help with stöff. It is only natural, quit feeling so ashamed,
no one starts off knowing everything about everything
(except maybe god if he exists, but, then, when he started
knocking about (i.e. somehow came into existence) there
was nothing to know everything about so he must have
started off by knowing everything about nothing, which
seems easy, and then had to make everything up. Thus it is
quite natural that he would know everything about every-
thing, since he made it all up. You probably know every-
thing about most of what goes on in your house, especially
if you built it. So quit giving yourself a hard time about not
knowing everything. It’s not like you’re some sort of god
or anything).
At least I know that whenever I assume the role of tour-
ist I often end up furiously scratching my head in bewilder-
ment and looking all confused on some dark street corner
in the type of neighbourhood where you really should
strive to look like you know what you’re doing because if
you don’t people will notice and they’ll probably want to
forcefully take all of your stuff, including your passport and
your new iPod that your mom got you for your 27th birth-
day (Reykjavík has a couple of such neighbourhoods, but I
thought it would be fun to not tell you which ones they are,
so you can enjoy finding out for yourself (hint: Laugardalur
is not one of them)).
OK. What were we talking about? Yes, ‘some tips and
tricks on enjoying your stay in Iceland’. Those ought to
come in handy. Here’s the first tip:
Venture outside of Reykjavík, if only for a day
Reykjavík is an alright town, for sure. There’s music, night-
life, museums, gyms, tanning salons, shopping malls,
weird road construction, crime, puffin stores, the pond
and its seagulls, ‘The Pearl’, where you can probably still
get ice cream and look at waxy Vikings, as well as a bunch
of video stores (the best ones are Aðalvídeóleigan in 101
Reykjavík and Laugarásvídeó in 104 Reykjavík).
But what’s probably best about Reykjavík is how close it
is to things that aren’t Reykjavík. Like Mosfellsbær, for in-
stance. That is a nice town that’s only a 20-minute bus ride
(give or take) away from downtown Reykjavík. It has a re-
ally nice bakery, some nice views to look at and the biggest
KFC in all of Europe (no kidding!). The band Sigur Rós like
it enough to have recorded a bunch of their music there.
And there are horses.
But Mosfellsbær isn’t the only thing in Iceland that’s not
Reykjavík. Hveragerði, for instance, is a quaint little town
that’s a very manageable distance from Reykjavík (it’ll take
you around thirty minutes to drive there, you can also take
a bus). On the way there you’ll see some stunning sights
(like, Bláfjöll and Hellisheiði and that crazy power plant
that’s absolutely not spewing sulphur and weird fumes
into the air and thus potentially harming folks that live in
its vicinity).
From Hveragerði you can hike up some nice mountains
towards some natural hot springs that are really nice to
bathe in. You can also continue a little ways and venture to
Selfoss (legendary birthplace of the ‘hnakki’ and ‘skinka’
cultural phenomenon) or to Eyrarbakki, where you can
sample some really nice lobster at Dave Grohl’s alleged
‘favourite Icelandic hangout’.
And, you know. There’s a whole country beyond that.
Ísafjörður, Akureyri, Hella, Arnarstapi, Látrabjarg, Gren-
ivík, Seyðisfjörður, Þórshöfn, Kópasker, Reyðarfjörður,
Ásbyrgi, Landmannalaugar, Súðavík, Patreksfjörður, Lots
Of Pure And Unspoilt NatureTM, Kárahnjúkavirkjun and
Bolungarvík.
So get out of Reykjavík for a while, if you have the
chance For ideas and inspiration, you can for instance
check out our fancy ‘OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK’ supplement.
If you’re into it.
Wait. That’s only one tip? That’s pretty lame. Oh, what-
ever.
Man, if there’s one band out there that’s getting
us somewhat excited about Icelandic rock again,
it’s the goddamn Dandelion Seeds. Those psych-
rockin’ bastards have been lurking on the edge of
(what passes for) the local rock scene for a while
now, playing some rather promising live shows and
releasing an EP (that we’re still unsure of where we
can purchase, if it can be purchased at all—those
guys are so deep underground we can hardly tell if
they’re a figment of our imagination or not) that left
us begging for more.
Now, more is here, in the form of ‘Love And Sweet
Dreams’. It is psychedelic, understated, overtly
druggy and friggin... great. So that’s our track of the
issue. Go download it now if you want to experience
what GV reviewer Anna Margrét Björnsson said
would come out if you mixed “[...] the British blues
invasion, the psych of UFO and Middle Earth with
the eighties feedback world of Spacemen 3 and
Loop, and [stirred] in a hefty dose of darkwave”.
The Dandelion Seeds
Love And Sweet Dreams
TRACK OF THE ISSUE
Download at www.grapevine.is
TRACK
OF THE ISSUE
Download at
grapevine.is
Haukur’s 42nd Editorial

Photography: Hörður Sveinsson
Styling: Guðmundur Jörundsson
Special thanks to:
Herrafataverzlun Kormáks og
Skjaldar and Þjóðleikhúsið
MILLIONS OF TIPS ON
‘ENJOYING YOUR STAY IN
ICELAND’
Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir