Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2013, Page 10

Continued
Kolabrautin is on 4th floor Harpa
Order a table in phone 519 9700
info@kolabrautin.is
www.kolabrautin.is
Whether you experience our surprising neo–Nordic influenced cuisine, or have a drink at
our renowned cocktail bar while enjoying one of the best panoramic views in Reykjavík,
an evening at Kolabrautin is truly a feast for all the senses.
ICELANDIC PRODUCE
MEDITERRANEAN TRADITIONS.
Continues over
by Anna Andersen
Grand Old Aunt Björk
By Haukur S. Magnússon, 2010
Björk is clearly our biggest hit, interviewed
here in our most-read story and the author
of three other stories in the top 10. In this
feature interview, Haukur talks to Björk
about the whole Magma Energy/HS Orka
thing, what it was like to be at the forefront
of that campaign, her call to public service,
being in the spotlight, celebrity martyrs, a
few projects that she was working on at
the time, including making music for the
Moomins, and all kinds of other things.
2 Björk Answers Ross
Beaty: We Shouldn't
Complete This Deal
By Björk Guðmundsdóttir, 2010
Björk was at the forefront of the campaign
against the sale of HS Orka to Magma En-
ergy. This is part of a series of exchanges
between Björk and Magma Energy CEO
Ross Beaty. Here’s a snippet of Björk’s
letter: “…please don't insult our intelli-
gence by playing the great benefactor . we
know very well that the value of all our
natural resources will increase dramati-
cally over the next few decades. and so do
you – that’s why you're here. you wish to
expand and thereby destroy some of our
beautiful nature, like krýsuvík and kerlin-
gafjöll , some of the most beloved natural
pearls in iceland.”
3 Surprising Twist in
Horse Meat Scandal
By Catharine Fulton, 2013
Leave it to Iceland to top the international
horsemeat scandals that ripped through
Europe and North America at the begin-
ning of his year. While everyone was up
in arms about horsemeat being mislabelled
as beef, it turns out that a particular Ice-
landic company wasn’t selling horsemeat
in the disguise of beef pies; it was selling
beef pies with no beef in them or any meat
at all for that matter. Our online news edi-
tor Catharine thought this was pretty un-
believable, and the world thought so too.
4 Police Break Up
Cat Party
By Paul Fontaine, 2012
This is one of those quirky Icelandic sto-
ries that people love to read. Our online
news editor at the time, Paul Fontaine,
wrote a story about police in Reykjavík be-
ing called to an abandoned home to evict a
party of cats. It took off like wild fire. Pee-
wee Herman even shared it! That’s right,
Pee-wee Herman!
5 Amazing New
Eruption Pics!
By Julia Staples, 2010
Two years post-collapse, the Eyjafjalla-
jökull eruption put Iceland back into the
spotlight. Grapevine drove into the ash
cloud and photographer Julia Staples took
some sweet photos of it all. The large ma-
jority of these viewers were clearly capti-
vated, returning for another glance or two.
6 A Deconstruction of
“Iceland's On-going
Revolution”
By Anna Andersen, 2011
This article was written in response to
‘Shock Doctrine’ author Naomi Klein
tweeting this: “#Iceland is proving that it
is possible to resist the Shock Doctrine,
and refuse to pay for the bankers' crisis”
with a link to an article called, “Iceland’s
On-going Revolution,” by Deena Stryker.
This article was full of factual errors, so
we tweeted back: “@NaomiAKlein We
are fans of yours, but we are sad to say that
your tweet and the article it cites are both
dead wrong. #Iceland” She replied: “@
rvkgrapevine tell me and i'll correct.” And
so we did.
7 Björk To Ross Beaty:
You Totally Miss My Point
By Björk Guðmundsdóttir, 2010
Ross Beaty tried to give Björk shares in his
company. She responded with this short
and sweet letter:
dear ross
noticed your message for me
you offering me shares in hs orka shows
that you totally miss my point
i feel this company should not be priva-
tized , it should be given back to the people.
therefore i am not interested in shares .
but if i would get the same deal as you
, a 70% bulletloan from icelanders to buy
usage of their own resources , i might re-
consider , who wouldn t́ ?
you didn’t really put your money where
your mouth is , did you ?
good bye
björk
P.s. I also saw in financial times when
you asked me , personally , to pop over to
your office and you would lower how long
magma ś usage of our resources is going to
be . This only reveals how willing you are
to cut deals outside law and order
www.orkuaudlindir.is
8 Woman Takes Part In
Search For Herself
By Paul Fontaine, 2012
This story by Paul was wonderful. It made
all kinds of international media. It was so
wonderful that we created an award called
“Tourist of the Year” with her in mind.
That award will now be given out annu-
ally. So far this year we think the tourists
who had to be rescued from their picnic on
a small iceberg are pretty good candidates.
But go nominate somebody (or yourself) at
www.touristoftheyear.is and he/she (you)
could win a trip to Iceland.
9 Björk On Magma
Energy
By Björk Guðmundsdóttir, 2010
There’s nothing like reading letters between
other people, especially when one of them
is Björk and she’s talking about something
really important. This is the first in a series,
a few of which appear above:
Dear friends,
I can no longer remain silent on the very
pressing subject that is the selling off of Ice-
land's nature.
I hereby challenge the government of
Iceland to do everything in its power to
revoke the contracts with Magma Energy
that entitle the Canadian firm complete
ownership of HS Orka. These are abhor-
rable deals, and they create a dangerous
precedent for the future. They directly go
against necessary and oft-repeated attempts
to create a new policy in the energy- and re-
source management of this nation.
Warmly,
Björk Guðmundsdóttir
10 Volcano Erupts Under
Eyjafjallajökull
By Haukur S. Magnússon, 2010
Not long after Eyjafjallajökull erupted,
a huge ash cloud made its way to main-
land Europe, shutting down airspace and
stranding people at airports for days. This
was a big deal. FUN FACT: This story was
written on a borrowed laptop, at a party,
under the influence of several beers, en
route to a Peaches show at NASA, a club
that no longer exists.
Top Hits At Grapevine.is
…in the last four years, that is
The following are the most viewed stories at grapevine.is since we started keeping track in 2009. It’s clear. Our readers want Björk, eruptions, and a mixed bag of
quirky “only in Iceland” kind of news. But this isn’t your typical list of fluffy stories. Quite the contrary, these stories involve serious topics like aluminium smelters,
the truth about Iceland’s revolution, our part in the international horsemeat scandal and, well, cat parties too.
1
Illustration: Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
10The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 7 — 2013
thermore, keyboard player Jakob
Frímann offered us to join the band
backstage after the gig. Thus, we
got our first backstage passes, and
had a swell time drinking with the
grand old men (and woman) of Ice-
landic pop, while listening to not-
fit-to-print stories about being in a
popular band in Iceland in the ‘70s
and ‘80s. Many a backstage pass
has been acquired since, as it is ap-
parently a part of the job, but there
is no time like the first.
First full year
We started publishing again in May
2004 after hibernating for the win-
ter of ‘03-’04. The time off was well
deserved and other things needed
to be attended to, but getting back
to business was even better. We
haven’t stopped since—in 2004, we
printed 11 issues and in 2005, the
grand total reached 16. From 2006
onwards The Reykjavík Grapevine
has been published 18 times per
year.
First “paycheck”
It was all fun and games (and long,
sleepless nights) the first summer,
but the financial means were lim-
ited, to say the least. With a freshly
polished business plan we started
work again, this time with the po-
tential prospect of a paycheck on
the horizon. After a month of labour
we got the check sent in the mail,
and it was glorious, even though the
amount of zeros was a disappoint-
ment, both for us and the taxman.
First “fame”
Although The Reykjavík Grapevine
got the odd mention by other me-
dia during its first few months, it
was in mid June 2004 that every-
one in Iceland was made aware of
the magazine’s existence. This was
due to the cover of the second is-
sue that year, which featured a
black woman dressed in Iceland’s
national costume, and the fact that
a local organisation refused to lend
the magazine a national costume
because of our intention to have it
worn by the aforementioned wom-
an. We didn’t see that one coming,
and for a few days The Reykjavík
Grapevine and this particular cover
photo was discussed on radio, TV
and in all the printed newspapers
during the 60th anniversary of the
Republic. We even got covered by
NPR. The 21st Century Lady of the
Mountain had received internation-
al attention.