Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2012, Side 2

POLITICSAGRICULTURE TRAVEL MUSIC FOOD
YOUR FREE COPY THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
× 2012
August 24
— September 6
Issue 13
RVK Homegrown's
hazy fight
Ayn Rand?
Really?
Star-crossed lovers: Relations between occupying troops and Icelandic women were harshly condemned.
Trippin' in THE
BLACK DESERT
Tony Bennett vs.
Sudden Weather
Change!
We throw a real
sausagefest!
For Icelanders, World War II was an agent of massive
social change, rushing their hitherto isolated island
into modernity, permanently altering the nation's
lifestyles and economic realities. Yet no military
conflict occurred on Icelandic soil; while the rest of
Europe burned, di‘erent fires were started in Iceland
as tens of thousands of soldiers in the prime of their
youth came in contact with the provincial populace.
More on this surreal situation and its aftermath on
Page 26.
Complete
Reykjavík Listings
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Ragnar Egilsson
Kári Tulinius
Smári McCarthy
Hilmar Magnússon
Cory Weinberg
Snorri Pall Jónsson Úlfhildarson
Birkir Fjalar Viðarsson
Valur Gunnarsson
Melkorka Licea
Mia Wotherspoon
Erla Steinþórsdóttir
Ásgeir H Ingólfsson
Edward Hancox
Ian Bain
Bob Cluness
Álfrún Gísladóttir
Rebecca Louder
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Eli Petzold / eli@grapevine.is
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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
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ers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around Reykjavík,
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You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles
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Cover by: Döðlur
Cover illustration by: Hrefna
Sigurðardóttir
Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2012
Editorial | Anna Andersen Music | Free
Icelanders don’t really have a word for “boogie,” but
this awesome five-some certainly know what it means.
Bringing disco back in 2012 with their funky beats and
sassy singing, the studs and divas of Boogie Trouble
have captured and reinvigorated the disco sound.
After half a year together, the group—Sigurður Tómas
Guðmundsson, Ingibjörg Elsa Turchi, Klara Arnalds,
Jóhann Vignir Vilbergsson and Sindri Freyr Steinsson
(who's been helping to distribute The GV since 2004!)—
have released their first track titled “Gin & greip.”
The song makes us want to get up and strut our
groovy stuff down Laugavegur. We recommend you
download it for FREE at www.grapevine.is and catch
them at one of their upcoming gigs around town this
coming month.
Gin & greip
Boogie Trouble
Download the FREE track at www.grapevine.is
TRACK OF
THE ISSUE
Download your
free track at
grapevine.is
The Situation Anna’s 14th Editorial
What’s The Deal With
Those Crazy Icelandic
Letters Yo?
Here Is Your Kreisí Æcelandic Frase For Þis Issue!
ÞþÆæÖö
æ
ð
þ
Unlike most of Europe, Iceland escaped
the ravages of World War II. With the ex-
ception of Hitler’s girlfriend, Eva Braun,
who visited Ísafjörður and shot some
‘home videos’ that you can find on You-
Tube, the Nazis never showed up. Instead
it was the British and then the Americans
who occupied Iceland, bringing jobs and economic
prosperity to a nation that had until then been liv-
ing in turf houses and bathing once in a blue moon.
Modernity ushered in by the war was thus heav-
ily influenced by American culture and values,
which might explain why Iceland arguably became
more capitalist than its Nordic brethren. And this
influence remains despite the economic crash: Pro-
fessor Hannes Hólmsteinn, among others, argues
that Iceland now needs more Ayn Rand in their
lives (Read more on page 24).
But Icelanders didn’t pick up on everything from
the Americans. As Alda Sigmundsdóttir points out
in her book, ‘The Little Book Of The Icelanders,’
Icelanders are not very good at manners and Icelan-
dic men don’t have a romantic bone in their bodies.
For instance, she says, “You don’t get that sort of
dating culture that exists in, say, America
(or at least in American movies), where
a guy asks a girl on a date and there’s
a dinner and a movie, getting to know
each other, maybe a second date a few
days later” (Read more about Alda’s book
on page 22).
This might explain why so many Icelandic
women fell for those dashing American soldiers
stationed in Iceland—a situation, which has lit-
erally gone down in history as ‘ástandið’ or “the
situation.” At the time, Icelandic authorities were
so worried about it that they set up committees to
investigate and women found to be cavorting with
soldiers were named and shamed.
While feelings about it have changed over time,
“the situation” has certainly left its mark on soci-
ety, permeating books, music and film for the last
seven decades. In this issue’s feature, “Love In The
Time Of War,” Valur Gunnarsson explores some of
this lasting impact through Icelandic novels, which
have yet to be translated into English. Turn to page
26 to read it (but don’t skip all of the other great
stuff!).
Trivia question: What is Iceland's, and Europe's, biggest national park?
A) Thingvellir National Park / B) Grafarholt National Park / C) Vatnajokull National Park?
Turn to page 29 for the answer!
We thought we’d explain. We’re ripping the idea off from
the Icelandair magazine. Go read that magazine if you
can. It’s free.
We like spelling things using Icelandic letters like
‘æ’ and ‘þ’ and also those crazy accents over the vowels.
Like Icelandair’s inflight magazine—IcelandairInfo—says,
the Icelandic language can use accents on all of the
vowels, making them look all unique, like this: á, é, í, ó,
ú, ö, ý (the accent also changes the pronounciation of
the letters. The á in “kjáni” sounds quite different from
the a in “asni”, for instance). We also have an additional
three letters. As IcealandairInfo notes:
(often written as ae) is pronounced like
the i in tide.
(often written as d) is pronounced like
the th in there
(often written as th) is pronounced like
the th in think”
“Fyrigefðu herra minn góður, en veist þú
hvort að Damon Albarn er staddur á Kaf-
fibarnum þessa stundina?”
(Feer-eer-gef-thu her-ra min goe-thur, en
wayst thoo kvoart aeth Damon Albarn aer
staa-dduhr ow Kaffeh-bardnuhm thessa
stound-ih-na?)
Excuse me kind sir, but do you know wheth-
er Damon Albarn is at Kaffibarinn at this
very moment?
fontana.is
Your
element
• Steam rooms
• Thermal baths
• Sauna
Laugarvatn Fontana is composed of a series of interconnected outdoor mineral baths and steam rooms,
built over natural hot spring that Icelanders have used for bathing since year 1929.
The ideal stop between Thingvellir and Geysir
– daily tours by Reykjavik Excursions
Welcome to a true, authentic Icelandic experience!
Open daily
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ÍA