Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2012, Blaðsíða 12

12
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2012
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Iceland | The Mortal Enemies Of
Cannabis rights activist Örvar Geir of cannabis law reform
group RVK Homegrown began
a number of public “smoke-ins”
at some of Iceland’s government
institutions, starting with the
Reykjavík police headquarters.
Several people joined him, and he
was not arrested. Örvar quipped at
the time, "From this I've concluded
that it's legal to smoke weed in
Iceland, or at least to do so in front
of the police station." He has since
smoked marijuana behind parlia-
ment, at the main building of state
broadcasting company RÚV, and
other places. The Icelandic media
has been decidedly reticent about
the smoke-ins, and the government
has yet to respond.
Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out that
Grapevine advice columnist and au-
thor of ‘Zombie Iceland’ Nanna Ár-
nadóttir has appeared in Cosmopol-
itan magazine. In a brief interview,
she gives advice to aspiring writers,
recounting some of the things she
learned along the way. Among them
is that writers don’t actually live
and work like Carrie Bradshaw of
Sex And The City. “Usually you are
in your pyjamas sitting at a desk or
in bed, with a couple of crumbs in
your hair; that is, if you remember
to eat at all,” she says. Hear that,
aspiring writers? Something to look
forward to.
August 1, 2012 - Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was sworn in for his
fifth term as president making him
the longest serving president in the
history of the republic (and one of
the longest serving politicians in
the world). He and his wife, Dorrit
Moussaieff, who is wearing the tra-
ditional Icelandic costume, can be
seen here standing on the balcony
of the parliament building, waving
to the crowd gathered at Austurvöl-
lur to witness the ceremony.
Photo by Eyþór Árnason/DV
— Continued —
The Photo
Reykjavík
NEWS IN BRIEF
NEWS IN ICELAND
EARLY AUGUST
Tom Cruise
While Messrs Crowe and
Stiller have charmed
everyone they have come
in contact with (it probably
doesn’t hurt that Stiller gave
Iceland the ultimate accolade
of saying he wants to move here), reports on Tom
Cruise have been more mixed.
Apparently sheep farmers are pissed off at him for
closing off large swathes of northern Iceland, cutting
sheep off from their normal trails. Not only does
this offend farmers’ beliefs that everyone is equal, it
also brought Tom Cruise into current debates about
ownership of land, as huge tracts have been bought by
local oligarchs and are even eyed by Chinese tycoons.
Reports that he had also closed off supermarkets while
doing his grocery shopping turned out to be untrue
(surely, he has people who do these things), but it says
something about the prevalent opinion of his stay.
News of his divorce might engender some sympathy,
but it’s unlikely that Cruise and Iceland will part with a
very high opinion of each other.
Halim Al
Naturalised citizen Halim
Al became a household
name in 1990 when he
f led to Turkey with the two
daughters he had fathered
with Icelander Sophia Hansen.
A bitter struggle ensued over custody of the
daughters, with Icelandic courts awarding custody to
her and Turkish courts giving it to him. The whole
country followed the events and collections were made
on behalf of Sophia to finance her struggle through the
court system. In 1997, the European Human Rights
court found Turkish authorities in breach of failing to
secure the mother visits with the children that they had
previously awarded her. That same year, the estranged
couple appeared on Turkish TV, with the daughters
phoning in saying they did not want to see their mother.
In 1999, an Icelandic-Turkish film called ‘Split’
(Icelandic: Baráttan um börnin) was made, featuring
Icelandic actors such as ‘Contraband’ director Baltasar
Kormákur, speaking English, of course. Unlike the
Icelandic media, the film did not present any easy
villain. The courtroom struggle collapsed when the two
girls came of age. Halim Al was last seen in local glossy
tabloid Séð og heyrt, saying he had just set up a new
business and wanted to return to Iceland. He hasn’t.

Paul Watson
Paul Watson, star of
Animal Planet reality
show ‘Whale Wars,’
currently harasses
Japanese whaling boats for a
living and has become a media
figure in his own right. However, Paul gained
notoriety in Iceland in 1986 when he, along with mates
from the Sea Shepherd organisation (which he founded
after being expelled from Greenpeace in 1977), sank
two whaling vessels in the Reykjavík harbour. Paul
instantly became a local celebrity, and Reykjavík police
force’s failures to apprehend him were spoofed in the
end of year comedy show.
World opinion remains divided; The Guardian
newspaper picked him as one of the 50 people who
might save the world, while others think of him as
little more than a terrorist. The general population of
Iceland would opt for the latter, but it was Faroese rap
band Swangah Dangah who turned the line “Fokk Paul
Watson” into a sing-along. The ships his team sank
were eventually repaired, and can still be seen in the
harbour.
Status Quo
While you may not remem-
ber the band best known
for opening 1985’s Live
Aid, their 1986 UK hit “In
The Army Now” and singer
Francis Rossi’s pony tail (and
l a t e r hair-implants), Status Quo have ac-
tually had more charting singles than any other British
rock act. None of this was enough to salvage their 1988
concert in Reykjavík, which was miserably attended. In
retaliation, they wrecked their hotel rooms and report-
edly urinated on the beds. Then again, it may just have
been because they were ’60s rock stars. In any case,
they have not been back.
Robbie Williams
Him you probably do re-
member. The annoying
one from Take That (OK,
that doesn’t really narrow
it down) who briefly went
on to conquer the world in that
strange period of time known as
the late ’90s. In 1999 his popularity was peaking in Ice-
land as in the rest of the world, and he played a show in
Reykjavík. Halfway into his set, tragedy struck. Some-
one threw a plastic bottle onstage and Robbie became
so incensed that he cut the concert short. In retaliation,
he even reportedly said that he would not be having
sex with any locals. Nooo, Robbie, don’t do this to us.
Please come back! Robbie Williams has since re-joined
Take That, but has not been back to Iceland.
Gordon Brown
The only person on this
list who has never been to
the country, former Brit-
ish Prime Minister Gordon
Brown became public enemy
number one in the autumn of
2 0 0 8 when he invoked the UK’s Anti-Ter-
rorism Act to stop Icelandic bankers from withdrawing
all their loot from Britain. The fact that HE did this to
US infuriated Icelanders and soon thereafter T-Shirts
with perceptive slogans such as “Brown is the colour
of poo” started appearing in downtown storefronts.
Icelanders watched with glee as Brown embarrassed
himself and eventually lost the 2010 campaign. His
successor, however, hasn’t really made the whole prob-
lem of repaying missing British deposits go away. See
also: Alistair Darling
For as long as anyone can remember, any major or minor celebrity who set foot in Iceland has been given the
honorary sobriquet “Íslandsvinur (“Friend of Iceland”), to be used whenever that celebrity is mentioned in the
Icelandic press. This has been used to preface names like Eric Clapton, who went salmon fishing here, and Damon
Albarn, who took the full step of moving here, and Brad Pitt, who made just a brief stopover at Keflavík airport.
And you can expect locals to tell tales of our latest friends, such as Tom Cruise sightings in North Iceland, how
much Russell Crowe lifted in his work-out session at Mjölnir, and what Ben Stiller bought at the duty-free store, for
generations to come.
Still, not everyone has left a favourable impression. Here are some people whose connection to Iceland has led
them to bear a less-than-honorary title. Here, then, are the “Enemies of Iceland”:
by Valur Gunnarsson
Are we forgetting any of our many enemies? Like that guy who's always going
on about whaling on our Facebook page? Or the band Poison, who faked an
injury to get out of playing here (actually, that was quite nice of them).
Enemies Of Iceland