Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.06.2014, Page 2

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
www.froken.is
Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
www.saf.is
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
Editor In Chief:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
Editor:
Anna Andersen / anna@grapevine.is
Journalist:
Larissa Kyzer / larissa@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Tómas Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
Advertising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
+354 40 3610
Publisher:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson
Árni Árnason
Atli Bollason
Davíð Roach
Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson
John Rogers
Jonathan Pattishall
Kári Tulinius
Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir
Kolbrún Þóra Löve
Margrét Erla Maack
Óli Dóri
Stephanie Lovell
Editorial Interns:
Arnulfo Hermes / arnulfo@grapevine.is
Liam Harrison / liam@grapevine.is
Rebecca Scott Lord / rebecca@grapevine.is
Susanna Lam / susanna@grapevine.is
Tyler Clevenger / tyler@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is
Design:
Hrefna Sigurðardóttir
Photographers:
Alísa Kalyanova / www. alisakalyanova.com
Nanna Dís / www.nannadis.com
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is
Óskar Freyr Pétursson / oskar@grapevine.is
Distribution manager:
distribution@grapevine.is
Proofreader:
Jim Rice
releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submissions inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
Subscription inquiries:
+354 540 3605 / subscribe@grapevine.is
General inquiries:
grapevine@grapevine.is
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
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 repro-
duced in whole or in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around
Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes,
Keflavík, 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’).
Cover by: Daníel Freyr Atlason
(www.dodlur.is)
Models: Óli Dóri & Agnes Björt
Assistants:Magnús Leifsson and
Benedikt Hauksson
Comic | Hugleikur Dagsson
Editorial | Anna Andersen Music | Free
“All Is Love” starts off quietly, with skittering percus-
sion and a burbling post-dubstep bassline. About 25
seconds in, comforting vocals arise seemingly from
the depths of the beat, slowly but surely soaring higher
and higher. The man behind M-Band, Hörður Bjarna-
son, possesses a voice that rests somewhere between
James Blake and Antony and the Johnsons. Soon, buoy-
ant synths join in, beautifully intertwining with the vo-
cals to a hypnotizing effective. Close your eyes and it’s
hard to place yourself anywhere but the sky, airborne
with the vocals and synths, as the bass and percussion
bubble and pop below in a clattering ocean of sound.
After the song reaches its reverb-drowned climax, the
beat steadily strips away, leaving nothing but a dusty
jazz hi-hat—an almost-anachronistic element repre-
senting the song’s new-school and old-school blend.
As the beat swells and contracts around him, Hörður
steadily croons, “…and all is love…” with such assured-
ness that it is impossible not to believe him.
All Is Love
M-Band
Download the FREE track at www.grapevine.
Here For A Dirty Weekend?
Anna’s 43rd Editorial
Tourist Of The Year
You’ve probably heard Iceland referred to as a hot
destination for so-called “dirty weekends.”
Icelandair certainly did its part in spreading that
message in the early noughties, luring visitors with
slogans like “Fancy a dirty Weekend in Iceland?”
“One Night Stand in Reykjavík” and “Miss Iceland
Awaits.”
The airline even featured games on the Scandina-
vian version of its website called “Halldor gets lucky
in the Blue Lagoon” and “Hildur gets lucky in the
Blue Lagoon,” in which characters chased their op-
posite sexes around the lagoon, collecting points by
respectively stripping them of their bikini tops and
swim trunks.
Even if you missed those incendiary ad tactics,
there’s a good chance that you listened to an Ice-
landic woman tell Oprah Winfrey back in 2005 that
women here have a fairly liberal attitude towards sex.
“It happens, yes,” she said when Oprah asked her
whether it was the norm to have sex with someone
you just met. “I guess we’re a bit liberal about things
because we have a much lower threshold for begin-
ning new relationships. And you don’t have to go on a
date, number one and two, and perhaps on the third
date you ask him in. You don’t have rules like that.”
Then you might have also heard Quentin Taran-
tino’s version on the Late Night with Conan O’Brien
show a year later. “But you know it’s funny because
normally in America, the idea is to get the girls
drunk enough to go home with you,” he said. “In Ice-
land, you get the girls home before they get so drunk
that they’re passing out in your bathroom, or vomit-
ing all over you. That’s the trick.”
Finally, pickup artist Roosh V. shared similar
views in his book ‘Bang Iceland,’ a guide to sleep-
ing with Icelandic women. “I still can’t get my head
wrapped around how strange Icelandic hookup cul-
ture is,” he concludes. “It’s basically backwards: they
have sex first before having an extended conversa-
tion that women from almost any other country in
the world would require as a prerequisite to sex.”
It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that many
Icelanders oppose this negative publicity, as nobody
likes being stereotyped. In addition, this sort of at-
tention has resulted in some less than pleasant expe-
riences, as Margrét Erla Maack recounts on page 26.
But could it also be that Icelanders have their
knickers in a twist over all of this because it is
somewhat true? Valur Gunnarsson, the author of a
recently released e-book called ‘The Last Lover,’ in-
vestigates on page 23.
We’re running a 2014 Tourist Of The
Year competition where one lucky
person will win a trip to Iceland,
courtesy of Icelandair and Icelandair
Hotels, Inspired by Iceland and yours
truly. We’ve gotten a few good submissions, like the
one from Heather DuCharme from the UK who has
travelled to Iceland 13 times already. If you’ve trav-
elled to Iceland in 2014 and think you should be the
lucky winner, head on over to touristoftheyear.is and
submit your travel story.
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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08 — 2014