Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.02.2013, Blaðsíða 2

We are now officially accepting nominations
for “Tourist of the year 2013.” Please submit
your nominations to editor@grapevine.is to be
considered. We will read them, post them to
our website and print the best one come next
January.
Note: To be eligible, the tourist (this can be you)
must have visited Iceland in 2013.

ARTECONOMICS JEWS MUSIC PROBLEMS
YOUR FREE COPY THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
× 2013
February 1 - 28
Issue 2
FULL SCHEDULE
INSIDE
Is Iceland still on
sale?
Find your muse! Laying low in
Iceland…
Horseback riding with
OYAMA, diving into
Sónar, and MORE!
Homelessness in
Iceland - what can be
done?
Icelanders have been positively glowing
(not to mention gloating) since the EFTA
Court ruled in their favour in a historic
verdict on the Icesave case. And who could
blame them? After five years of uncertainty,
the Icesave issue was finally resolved—in
the best way any Icelander could have
hoped for. No more Icesave
press-conferences at the President's oŽice.
No more referendums. No more fearing
that the repercussions of Landsbankinn's
reckless actions would bankrupt the
country. The President's gamble, and the
nation's gamble, paid oŽ in a big way. But
does this mean Icelanders are back on
track, free to load up on Range Rovers and
re-engage in the reckless risk taking they
so love? Page 20
Complete
Reykjavík Listings
Lots of
cool events+ Download the FREE Grapevine Appy Hour app!Every happy hour in town in your pocket. Available on the App store and on Android Market.
SWEET
VICTORY?
Iceland's David conquered
the European Goliath...
but what does it all mean?

× 2013
January 11
- February 7
Issue 1
Missing
Your Free Copy
TOURIST OF THE YEAR
TH
E G
RA
PE
VI
NE
M
US
IC
AW
AR
DS

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Bob Cluness
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Birkir Fjalar Viðarsson
Valur Gunnarsson
Laura Studarus
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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’).
Editorial | Anna Andersen TRACK OF THE ISSUE
One would think that a band that’s been
around for less than a year wouldn’t be at the
point of changing up their sound, but things
haven’t gone the usual way for these kids and
they aren’t about to slow down now – they told
us all about it on a recent date, see page 28!
On this track from their new EP ‘I Wanna’, we
hear them veering away from the 90s slowcore
of their early gigs last summer and into warm-
er, more psychedelic territory. A lovely way to
liven up the winter doldrums.
Everything Some of the Time
Oyama
Download for FREE at www.grapevine.is
Are We Drinking the Kool-Aid, Iceland?
Anna’s 21st editorial
Will You Be Grape-
vine’s ‘Tourist Of
The Year 2013’?
Icelanders breathed a col-
lective sigh of relief this
week when EFTA ruled
in its favour in the long-
disputed Icesave case.
Congratulations flew this
way and that and Prime
Minister Jóhanna Sig-
urðardóttir even did a little victory shake to show how
happy she was to hear the news.
The Icesave dispute between Iceland and the UK
and the Netherlands was one of those post-crash top-
ics that came up ad nauseam for the last four years,
refusing to go away not once, but three times. Now
we’re finally looking at the possibility of never having
to talk about it again, the possibility of finally being
able to get on with our lives and brighter future.
But haven’t we also been talking about a “bet-
ter” and “brighter” Iceland for the last four years?
Of course “The Best Party” started as a joke, but
it now runs the capital city and makes use of an e-
democracy platform called “Better Reykjavík.” And
then we’ve seen parties spring up with names like
“Solidarity” (Samstatða), “Dawn” (Dögun), and “Op-
timism” (Bjartsýnisflokkurinn). Not to mention,
“Bright Future,” which polls suggest is the third larg-
est party running for parliament this spring.
What’s more, these parties are literally fighting
each other for the rights to these New Age names.
Shortly after Bright Future settled on its name last
fall, a political group called New Future tried to get
them to change it, albeit unsuccessfully. “We do not
intend to change our name,” party leader Guðmun-
dur Steingrímsson said, “and we wish New Future a
bright future.”
So what exactly is this “New Iceland”? There’s
been all of this talk of it since the crash, but what
exactly is it supposed to be, has it arrived, and if so, is
it any different from the old Iceland? And why call it
New Iceland when a New Iceland was already created
in Canada more than one hundred years ago?
To be fair, it’s not all just empty discourse, and
regardless of how many slip-ups there have been, the
radical effort being made to write a new Constitution
pitting "New Iceland" ideas against the old money/
establishment, is proof of that. Some of the business-
men that drove the country into the ground are being
prosecuted, and despite the resurgence of the Inde-
pendence Party, which laid the groundwork for the
financial crash, the success of these new parties is a
sign that people are still fed up with the old.
Now we can certainly all get together, fill our
glasses halfway full and skál to a new day, to a better
and brighter future, the best even, but let’s be sure
that it’s not proverbial Kool-Aid that we’re sipping on.
What’s The Deal With
Those Crazy Icelandic
Letters Yo?
Here Is Your Kreisí Æcelandic Frase For Þis Issue!
ÐðÞþÆæÖö
æ
ð
þ
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”
“Jæja, er ekki kominn tími til að hætta að
tala um Icesave”
(yah-yah, err eh-kke, come-in team-eh till
ath hi-tah ath tah-lah oom Icesave?)
Ok, isn't it time we stop talking
about Icesave?
Cover by:
Döðlur
Illustration:
Hrefna Sigurðardóttir
FUN TRIVIA QUESTION!
Taken from the educational trivia game
Instant Iceland
Q: The only Icelander on TIME magazine’s
list of 25 people to blame for the 2008 fi-
nancial crisis is a former Mayor of Reykja-
vík, Prime Minister of Iceland and head of
Iceland’s Central Bank. What is his name?
A David Oddsson
B Hilmar Oddsson
C Jens Stoltenberg
Turn to page 27 for the answer!
YOUR
FACE
HERE
2The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 2 — 2013
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