Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.11.2013, Side 14
Birthday | We're 10!
14The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 17 — 2013
A Gourmet Experience
- Steaks and Style at Argentina Steakhouse
Barónsstíg 11 - 101 Reykjavík
Tel: 551 9555
argentina.is
When they are having fun, a late or even sleepless
night is not a problem, [...] Icelanders who dream
of the great cities that “never sleep” often return
home disappointed, remarking with amazement
that “everything closes at midnight”
Gérard Lemarquis:
Reykjavik
Cultural Guide
“
”
Book launch
Saturday November 16th · 14:00 -16:00
Sjónarlind Bookstore
Bergstaðastræti 7· 101 Reykjavík
By 2011 Iceland as a nation had mostly
become deeply immersed in the extend-
ed shock of 2008’s economic collapse and
its resulting collapses (of confidence, of
faith, of self-image...).
Amidst the rubble, still in a stupor,
maybe, definitely in a daze; we were as-
tounded to find that we were still there,
that Iceland had against all odds failed to
sink into the North Atlantic. It became
apparent that our leading emotions, An-
ger and Confusion, would eventually
have to be make way for something else,
that we would need to move on and try
to remember why we were all here in the
first place and what we wanted to make of
it in the long run.
For our first issue of 2011, we wanted
to look forward, and we wanted to enlist
our best and brightest minds to help us
with that task. To that end, we contacted
a bunch of our most beloved local authors
and asked them to write us short short
stories on the topic: 'Iceland and the next
decade'. Their mission was to consider:
"what's in store for our island?" and then
examine their feelings about that imag-
ined future and deliver them in prose
form.
We got great stories from some of our
favourites—award winning, best-selling
writers Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, Kristín
Eiríksdóttir, Guðrún Eva Mínervudót-
tir, Óttar M. Norðfjörð and Haukur Már
Helgason— wonderful prose that offers
a window into our collective hopes and
fears of their moment, solemn medita-
tions on a future that remains very un-
clear.
These stories are all online (www.
grapevine.is/Art/ReadArticle/Future-
perfect-tense ), and you would do well to
seek them out immediately, before you
forget.
---
In many ways, the most pressing ques-
tion of 2011 seemed to be, “what is the
most pressing question of 2011?”
We had a functioning government,
most of us had jobs, the SIC Report had
provided convincing answers as to why
everything went to hell in the first place
and our good friend the Special Prosecu-
tor was reportedly hard at work capturing
the culprits. We were also working on a
new constitution.
Did that mean we should just get on
with things? Should we just keep going
to work amidst regular sessions of telling
representatives from the army of docu-
mentary filmmakers that besieged the
island stories of Iceland, The Future Of
Hope™? Or was there further question-
ing to be done, further restructuring,
more aspects of our society that bore ex-
amination, deconstruction and criticism?
You can find examples of both in
Reykjavík Grapevine’s issues from 2011.
There is a lot of going to work, of having
fun, of business as usual, mixed with a lot
of attempts to question and criticize.
---
In February, we were proud to run for-
mer intern/former journalist/constant
contributor Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir’s
feature on WikiLeaks and the whole
IMMI proposal—some very important
topics that could have gone on to define
post-collapse Iceland. “Information With-
out Borders? - Iceland, WikiLeaks and
the electronic frontier” is the first of our
many enquiries into the subject of Ice-
land becoming a media haven. It is sad
to note that the most recent one, from
this summer, employs the phrase “dying
dream” somewhat unironically.
In our March issue, we ran not one
but TWO entirely unrelated articles that
invoked pop singer Britney Spears in
connection to Iceland’s finances. Neither
before nor since have we printed such an
article. We also made waves in the local
media when we mocked a few local ce-
lebrities in the article “A FOREIGNER'S
GUIDE TO THE CONFUSING WORLD
OF ICELANDIC CELEBRITIES.” Fea-
turing wonderful caricatures from Lóa
Hjálmtýsdóttir, Ragnar Egilsson’s article
pokes irreverent fun of Iceland’s most va-
pid famebags. It was the source of quite a
few death threats, but we wouldn’t really
be the Grapevine if we didn’t invite for the
occasional death threat.
Now, be honest. Is calling someone: “a
kind of lobotomized Robin to [a] Down’s
syndrome Batman” really THAT offen-
sive?
In our fifth issue of the year, constant
GV contributor Paul Fontaine managed
to capture a lot of immigrants’ feelings
about Icelandic society in a short, meant-
to-be-funny-but-wound-up-ringing-
entirely-too-true op column titled “The
Tree Stages Of Integration – adapting to
Icelandic society.” Those three stages are,
according to Paul: Wonder, Disgust and
Realization (in that order).
We also published a super in-depth
interview with artist Ólafur Elíasson
about the façade he designed for Harpa,
which was about to open at the time. Óla-
fur had reached out to us asking to be in-
terviewed, as he wanted to set the record
straight on a number of things concern-
ing the concert hall, and to express his
disappointment that it was to be opened
before completion (we also learned that
its original financial backer, the bankster
Björgólfurs, had almost entirely shifted
focus from Harpa being a music hall by
the end of their involvement, making
changes to turn it into some sort of mall).
Issue six was the first appearance of
our now annual bar guide. At the time,
we had no idea what to feature in the
magazine (it was a slow month of a slow
year), so we decided the appropriate re-
sponse was to drink a beer at every bar
in 101 Reykjavík. Aside from ruining our
livers, this thoughtless endeavour paved
the way for our ‘Appy Hour’ app (and
directly caused the wave of happy hours
that has swept 101 since) and won us a
few more death threats. Turns out Reyk-
javík’s bar owners are just as sensitive as
local musicians and minicelebs.
Then we got a new volcanic eruption.
This one was a little shorter and sweeter
than the Eyjafjallamadoodadjaljajöll of
the year prior, but it still gave us a cover
and some nice on-line photo albums that
are GREAT for SEO.
We put a lot of effort into researching
what the hell was going on with Reykja-
vík Energy (many, many shady things),
which resulted in Anna Andersen’s en-
lightening feature “Reykjavík Energy In
Deep Water.” One of many positive as-
pects of Jón Gnarr’s reign as Mayor is the
investigation and subsequent cleanup of
RE’s affairs—the company now seems on
the straight track. But for a glimpse into
how mindlessly automatically profitable
businesses can be run into the ground in
Iceland, look no further than this feature.
There was more. It was a long year.
We interviewed musicians and artists
and actors and politicians, we reviewed
restaurants and records and shows and
THE ENTIRE AIRWAVES FESTIVAL
(again) and probably scored one or two
more death threats along the way.
But we’re still here.
Two Years Ago
Hooray! We turned ten this year. For a humble
street rag like Grapevine, turning ten is a pretty big
deal—we barely expected to make it to ten issues
(and, indeed, all of our contemporaries from the
Reykjavík's street rag market have long since bid
farewell... miss u, Undirtónar!).
To celebrate our decade of existence, we thought
we'd get a little introspective and reprint some choice
articles from the past that are for some reason sig-
nificant, accompanied by commentary and even up-
dates. Call it a "blast from the past" or "a look into the
dark cauldron of time" if you want to—we call it fun.
Thus, for ten issues, expect a page dedicated to a year
of Grapevine's existence, starting one issue ago, with
a look back into magical 2003.
This issue is a look at 2011, Haukur S. Magnús-
son's third year as editor. Read on from some reflec-
tions from the man!
Remembering 2011
— By Haukur S. Magnússon
Photo by Ólafur Elíasson Studios