Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2011, 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 Höf!atorgi
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 10 — 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:
Steinunn Jakobsdóttir
Julia Staples
Marc Vincenz
Edward Hancox
Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson
Egill Helgason
Elvar Örn Arason
Vanessa Schipani
Bob Cluness
!órir Bogason
Paul Fontaine
Eimear Fitzgerald
Jón Gnarr
Magnús Sveinn Helgason
Valur Gunnarsson
Jessica Rose
Egill Helgason
Lana Vogestad
EDITORIAL INTERNS:
Felix Jimenez Gonzalez / felix@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 EMERITUS:
Hör"ur Kristbjörnsson / hoddi@grapevine.is
ART DIRECTOR
Sveinbjörn Pálsson / sveinbjorn@sveinbjorn.com
DESIGN:
Páll Hilmarsson / pallih@kaninka.net
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Hör"ur Sveinsson / hordursveinsson.com
SALES DIRECTOR:
A"alsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Gu"mundur Rúnar Svansson / grs@grapevine.is
Helgi !ór Har"arson / helgi@grapevine.is
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER:
!ór"ur Gu"mundur Hermannsson
distribution@grapevine.is
PROOFREADER:
Jim Rice
PRESS RELEASES:
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GENERAL INQUIRIES:
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FOUNDERS:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hör"ur Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigur"arson,
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, Egilssta"ir, Sey"is-
fjör"ur, Borgarnes, Kef lavík, Ísafjör"ur 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
FASHION
Get geared up for
SlutWalk: Reykjavík
Jökulsárlón, Eyjafjalla-
jökull and Eyrbczxé!"-
öjæóxll EXPLORED!
FILM
Can Iceland be
accurately
portrayed?
MUSIC
Bjartmar is back!
So is Björk!
ICELANDIC
Will we ever learn?
TRAVEL
IN THE ISSUE Issue 10 2011 July 15 - 28 COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE!+
Anna Andersen investigates... PAGE 24
A GLORIOUS, SHINY
GEOTHERMAL FUTURE
HOW REYKJAVÍK ENERGY WAS DRAINED OF ALL
ITS RESOURCES AND DRIVEN TO NEAR-BANKRUPTCY
También
¡EN
ESPAÑOL!
Actually, let’s not. Love is great, everyone should have it
in their lives all the time and if it is currently lacking from
your life then your life is lacking and you should do some-
thing about it. Like some buzzband at Airwaves (were they
Swedish?) once proclaimed in their very name: ‘LOVE IS
ALL,’ and that’s all there is to say about the subject (funnily
enough, another Airwaves band, The Rapture (man, that
goddamn band was awesome... what happened to those
guys?) had a song bearing that same title. Int’l buzzbands
that want to play Airwaves take notice!).
ANYWAY. Love is great. It’s good we can all agree on
that (if you do disagree, however, do write us a letter. A
letter from a love-hater sounds like it could make an inter-
esting read). But enough about love. Let’s talk about other
stuff.
I’m not gonna lie to you. I am extremely proud to be
publishing our current feature. The story was written and
researched by our journalist Anna Andersen over a period
of almost six months (!) and is an attempt to give a some-
what comprehensive overview of how Reykjavík Energy—a
company that subscribes to monthly payments from a ma-
jority of Icelanders—was run into the ground by a poison-
ous mixture of party politics, ludicrous bubble scheming
and plain carelessness.
It is a long story, and a sad one. It acts as a disturbingly
accurate microcosm of how Icelanders managed to run
their national economy into the ground over the course of
a decade; the whats, hows, whos, whys and whens are all
present and accounted for. The saga of Reykjavík Energy
has damn near every factor: reckless spending, aimless
political meddling, crony capitalism, insanely grandiose
ideas, scheming banksters and an unmatched capability
for self-delusion.
(One point that bears further investigating is that
whole REI-affair, from the layman’s perspective, it very
much looks like some of Iceland’s favourite banksters,
most notably Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, Bjarni Ármansson
and Hannes Smárason along with their puppet-corpora-
tions FL Group and Glitnir, very nearly appropriated a large
chunk of Reykjavík Energy (i.e. taxpayer assets) with the
co-operation of politicians and insiders. It is interesting to
ponder what had happened had they not been stopped?
Would they have treated it like the aforementioned FL
Group and other companies that they had a hand in pul-
verising? Would they have sold off all the assets and mort-
gaged the rest while sucking the capital out to be stored
somewhere in the Caribbean in-between bouts of partying
with 50 Cent? Who knows!)
If you are interested in learning how Iceland went from
‘THE GLORIOUSLY QUAINT ELFIN HOME OF UNSPOILED
NATURE, SIGUR RÓS, BJÖRK AND THE GOLDEN CIRCLE’
to ‘WALL STREET ON THE TUNDRA,’ then you need to
read this. It’s good.
Who is responsible, then? Our research reveals that a
lot of people are (a good rule of thumb for spotting some-
one that’s partially responsible for RE’s poor standing—he
or she claims someone else is entirely responsible for RE’s
poor standing: “It was doing great when I left!”).
A cynical person might claim that the public body that
repeatedly voted these people and their policies to power
is ultimately responsible for the poor state of Reykjavík
Energy, as well as for the poor state of Iceland’s economy,
media environment, legal framework, moral standing and
bureaucratic system (etc., etc.).
Now, everyone knows that us, your friends at The
Grapevine, are anything but cynical. So even though plac-
ing responsibility at the hands of voters—voters that maybe
should have known better and perhaps could do well by
vigilantly observing what the politicians (and politicians’
friends) they are voting to power at any given time are get-
ting up to—would seem reasonable enough to the cynic’s
jaded self, we won’t. But it would be cool if folks paid at-
tention. Nothing wrong with noting that.
Anyway, kudos to Anna Andersen for her excellent
work, and good riddance to y’all that had a hand in milking
our once standing energy provider ‘til it bled (and good
luck to those that are trying to rebuild). None of you have
been formally brought to justice at the time of writing, and
as things are going it seems unlikely that any of you ever
will. But as a firm believer in Karmic balance, a harmonious
universe and the noble message of faltered ‘90s pop he-
roes New Radicals, I can say with some confidence: “You
get what you give.”
So watch your backs.
Singer/songwriter Snorri Helgason first made his name
with everyone’s favourite band of 2007, Sprengjuhöllin,
who with a ‘difficult second album’ managed to fade
into semi-obscurity before going on indefinite hiatus.
Both of their releases are worth seeking out though,
even though the vibrant energy of début ‘Tímarnir okkar’
remains the better of the two.
Fortunately, Snorri kept going, releasing a fine solo
début called ‘I’m Gonna Put My Name On Your Door’ in
late 2009. The début clearly indicated that Snorri had
been Sprengjuhöllin’s songwriting force majeure and
rekindled his old fans’ flame while gaining him some new
ones.
Now based in London, where he is spreading the
gospel of Helgason gig by gig, Snorri has crafted a new
album that sees him really reach his full potential as
a songwriter, lyricist and singer. Recorded under the
aegis of Sin Fang/Seabear maestro Sindri Már Sigfús-
son—who brings his excellent ear and smashing talent to
the table—the album is a proper gem, filled with fetching
melodies and subtle moods that make it fit for a re-
laxed evening at home or a pondering walk through the
wilderness. On our TRACK OF THE ISSUE, ‘Mockingbird’,
Snorri betrays influences old (Townes Van Zandt) and
new (Fleet Foxes), tastefully wrapped up in the sonic
wonderland of Sindri Már. Check it out!
www.snorrihelgason.com
Snorri Helgason
Mockingbird
TRACK OF THE ISSUE
Download at www.grapevine.is
TRACK
OF THE ISSUE
Download at
grapevine.is
Haukur’s 44th Editorial
Illustration: Sigur!ur Oddsson - www.siggiodds.com
“LET’S TALMBOUT LOVE, BABY”
IN THE END, ALFRED'S
SUNDAY WALKS TO GRÓTTA
WERE THE ONLY THING THAT
REASSURED HIM OF HIS
OWN BRILLIANCE.
Comic | Megan Herbert