Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2013, Blaðsíða 12

Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2013, Blaðsíða 12
So. We are ten. Free street rag Reykjavík Grapevine is ten. WTF. --- I remember the first time I heard about The Reykjavík Grapevine. It was the spring of 2003. I was drinking coffee in Ísafjörður, and a friend of the publishers-to-be told me about their plans to publish a free Eng- lish-language street magazine and asked if I wanted to write for them. I, a young, spiteful and dumb Ísafjörður fish-gutter, scoffed at the idea. “It will never work,” I thought, while on the inside my heart raged with jealousy for not having thought of such a brilliant idea. I found their third issue lying around in Ísafjörður later that summer. “Boy I am so glad I didn’t involve my noble self with this fly-by-night bullshit idea,” I thought. “It’s ugly and horrible and it will never work.” I was still jealous, of course. --- Over the next couple of years, I ceremoni- ously ignored Reykjavík Grapevine. Or, I tried to. I wanted to hate it, I really did. I wanted them to fail. They were stupid and ugly and they were not me. Eventually, my small town insecurities faded and I got more settled in Reykjavík. I attended concerts and went to bars. I made friends. I explored. Slowly, I started falling in love with the city; the spirit, the shape, the geography; its batshit crazy nightlife and its mostly wonderful music scene—all the creative, imaginative, impulsive, damaged, thought- ful and outstanding young people who make it up. Simply put, the Reykjavík I fell in love with was the Reykjavík depicted in the Grapevine, by the outcasts and the ex- pats. The one that took its music seriously enough to discuss its negative aspects. The one that hadn’t grown up with Icelandic nature and was thus fascinated by it in a way that my peers and I couldn’t fathom. The one that wasn’t afraid to offend. The one that was of Iceland, but always slightly out of sync from the mainstream, perhaps due to its target market of visitors. As a ter- minal outsider, an eternal disagreer of the world as depicted by mainstream media and pop culture, I felt I had finally found a medium that at times reflected my feelings and opinions. I started looking up to the writers and editors and photographers and comic art- ists (and I still do). I had found kindred spirits, in a tourist magazine of all places. Every day of publication I would grab a copy at the Austurstræti ÁTVR along with my weekly sixpack of student-grade beer and read it over the weekend’s first pint. It became a bit of a ritual. I often disagreed, I sometimes was enraged, but I always recognized the content as coming from an honest place, that I had more to agree on with the writers than not. --- Eventually, I found myself working as a staff journalist for the Grapevine (I have no idea how this happened), and a little later I was suddenly the magazine’s editor (I’m still going “WTF”). It is the hardest, most taxing job I have ever undertaken. Yet, getting to stand on the shoulder of gi- ants, working with enthusiastic writers and photographers and designers and illustra- tors (and getting to ask important questions in a time when such questions desperately needed asking)—nothing compares. The average reader probably doesn’t know the sheer amount of work and dedi- cation it takes to create single issue of the Grapevine. Of the freelancer sweating all night in her apartment over an overdue in- terview that just needs a little more work to get right. The designer who works 48 hours straight to make sure it is presentable. The photographer on a last-minute drive to Hafnarfjörður. It is always a labour of love, and of passion, and it continues to show. Anything that so many people pour their hearts and minds and souls into has to have some value. Of that I am sure. For a humble street rag such as The Reykjavík Grapevine, turning ten is an incredible feat, a remarkable testament to the undying love and tireless work its founders, contributors and employees have put into keeping it alive and well. For a humble street rag such as The Reykjavík Grapevine, turning ten also presents a con- siderable challenge. One could reasonably argue that any medium that reaches such a milestone has become de facto institution- alized through sheer persistence. Instead of countering the norm, it might, even in its continued opposition, become an integral part of it—just another outlet that tells you who to be and what to think, rather than a venue to express or reflect on who you are and what you think. Fortunately, I don’t see this happening any time soon. We are well staffed. We are aware. It was never Grapevine’s idea to write the rules: the whole thing was about providing a venue to challenge them. Happy birthday, The Reykjavík Grape- vine. You’re an asshole, but I love you. 1 For some reason, “magnús þór þorbergsson,” is the 13th most popular search leading to Grapevine. He must be a very mysterious teacher at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and/or the article that we must have written about him must be loaded with SEO. 2 Skipping over “reykjavik news,” which is a rather boring search, “iceland porn” is the 15th most popular keyword search. News that Iceland was trying to ban porn must have really made a splash. A similar search for “Icelandic porn” is the 26th most popular one, but perhaps these people are actually looking for Icelandic porn. Who knows… 3 Skipping past a few more boring searches, “iceland revolution” is the 21st most popular one. This isn’t surprising given how much attention Iceland got for letting the banks fail, banging on pots and pans, ousting its government, bringing in a new one and last but not least, jailing its bankers. Some of that is myth, by the way. 4 And, skipping past a few more, there are searches for venues like “c is for cookie reykjavik” in 24th and “bakkus reykjavik” in 25th place. The former is a pretty nice coffee shop and the latter is one of the many bars in Reykjavík that no longer exits. 5 Then there’s “seljavallalaug” in 27th place. That’s the name of a pretty cool swimming pool in south Iceland. It’s tucked away at the foot of a mountain, a bit off the beaten path behind a newer pool, which is not nearly as much fun as the old one. 6 Skipping past “reykjavik gravepine,” because that’s just ridiculous, there’s “icelandic sweaters made in china.” I’d want to know if my super expensive handmade Icelandic wool sweater were really made in China, too. 7 Then comes “hemmi og valdi” and “hemmi & valdi” in the 30 and 31st place. We used to throw a concert series there called Grapevine grassroots. It’s a pretty cosy café. 8 After that comes “hugleikur dagsson” in 32nd. If you don’t know him, you should Google him and check out a bunch of the comics he has made for us through the years. 9 We know everyone loves Sigur Rós, but it’s apparently thanks to the band’s keyboard that fans are organically finding their way to us. Indeed, “sigur ros casio keyboard” is the 33rd most popular search. 10 Finally, skipping over “Iceland newspaper,” there’s “sigurður kjartan,” a former intern and current contributor. Now, I’m sure we can all agree that it’s okay to Google ourselves every once in a while, but THIS MANY TIMES, Siggi? Out of 204,443 unique searches, your name is the 35th most popular one. No wonder the guy’s so busy all the time! Still pretty high on the list after these are searches for “sex in Iceland” and “Iceland sex,” for which we should prob- ably thank Oprah Winfrey, the marketing department at Icelandair, Roosh Vörek and Quentin Tarantino. The latter spoke highly of “Icelandic women,” which is another popular search (incidentally tied with “Icelandic coffee”). Finally, a few more after that include “troll stumble,” which maybe goes to show that dys- lexic people like Brian Pilkington books, “huang nubo,” who desperately wants to own land in Iceland and “tom cruise Iceland,” which probably has something to do with the fact that TomKat recently split while he sojourned here. Who knows how much of this has to do with our content, other people’s interests, or the ways of Google Panda and now Penguin, but it’s certainly some combination of the three. It’s perhaps not surprising that the top 12 keyword searches leading people to our website are variations of “The Reykjavík Grapevine.” That includes “grapewine” of course, which is almost guaranteed to be the work of Iceland- ers or foreigners misinformed by Icelanders who, after ten years, still think we’re called “The Reykjavík Grapewine.” Will this poor nation ever learn to differentiate their ‘v’s from their ‘double v’s? Probably not, but that’s all right because we own the domain www.grapewine.is too. Barring more direct searches for Grapevine or Grapewine, the following is a list of the next ten most popular searches leading people to the site since we started using analytics in 2009. We’re not sure what to make of it all, but it’s semi-interesting anyway… by Anna Andersen Magnús Þór Who? Googling your way to Grapevine Haukur S. Magnússon is your friendly neighborhood grocer Editor-in-chief I HATE THE REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE 12The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 7 — 2013 First death threat Our first taste of fame was followed by the first death threats to mem- bers of The Grapevine’s staff. Most of these came from American Neo- Nazis, but local Neo-Nazis from the town of Grindavík soon joined the party. They did not seem pleased about the idea of a black woman wearing the national costume. Get- ting such threats in the middle of the night via phone calls and text mes- sages is no laughing matter, but we still felt these indicated that we had, well, done something right. Thank- fully, none of these threats material- ized. Later threats have been more civil. Mostly. First “gourmet” coffee machine As you may have noticed, coffee is a huge part of our lives. It’s not as if we are coffee connoisseurs, we just like the feeling of caffeine rush- ing through our veins. In 2004, we struck a deal with a coffee machine vendor. This machine has it all, it grinds beans for each cup, you can make lattés and cappuccinos (well, you could at some point, today it just makes regular coffee). The cof- fee machine receives an honourable mention as it is considered among the oldest staff members of the Grapevine. First world famous people on the cover The second summer of publication also saw the first world famous peo- ple on the cover of the magazine. First came Björk, of course, and for the first time we used a photo not taken by one of our own photog- raphers for the cover. Next up was Gerard Butler, who was in Iceland in late summer 2004 shooting the movie Beowulf & Grendel. Mr. But- ler however, didn’t really achieve world fame until a few years later, more due to his abs as portrayed in the movie '300' than his Icelandic venture, which was, in all honesty, a bit of a flop.. First election coverage Iceland held elections in 2004, and as would become customary, we felt it was our duty to cover the elections and interview all the can- didates. The cover featured a man dressed for the part of president of Iceland, and who just happened to be father to one of the staff. The Continued Continues over
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