Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2015, Qupperneq 2

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
Börn hit the ground running in our most recent track
of the issue. “Sviðin jörð” (“Scorched Earth”) needs
no introduction, no buildup. It starts strong and
stays there. Sounding as if recorded in some long-
abandoned, dingy basement, this track is no frills,
just two minutes and fifty-two seconds of a driving
rhythm and bass, hollow phasered-out guitar, and
vocals that don't just suggest frustration—they tell
you, point blank and bold-faced.
To be fair, almost every song by Börn has got a
clearly legible “fuck you” attached—but “Sviðin Jörð”
goes above and beyond: “Let's light Reykjavík on
fire/and dance on the ashen remains of the patriar-
chy.”
Let us assure you, Börn spare no one—and every
moment of it is excellent.
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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2015
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
Journalist & Travel editor:
John Rogers / john@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
Food Editor:
Ragnar Egilsson / ragnar@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:
RX Beckett
Davíð Roach
Nathan Hall
Barry Shaw
Óli Dóri
Bob Cluness
Ásgeir Ingólfsson
Ciarán Daly
York Underwood
Kári Tulinius
Regina Falange
Björn Teitsson
Bjarni Bernharður
Paul Fontaine
Editorial Interns:
Alexander de Ridder / alexander@grapevine.is
Sam Wright Fairbanks / sam@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is
Design:
Hrefna “Cool” Sigurðardóttir / hrefna@grapevine.is
Contributing Photographers:
Art Bicnick
Anna Domnick
Hörður Sveinsson
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:
Mark Asch
releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submission 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’).
On the cover:
David Cronenberg
Photographer:
Caitlin Cronenberg
www.caitlincronenberg.com
Thanks:
Max Renn and the folks
at RIFF.
“A STUPID, BROKE COUNTRY
FILLED WITH DRUNKS AND
WHORES” DRAWS ISRAEL’S IRE
As a publication, we aim to pro-
mote discourse, dialogue and
a free exchange of ideas. We
thus welcome any opinion to
our pages, so long as they're in-
teresting, and not, like, crazy
racist or hateful (send all your
interesting, non-racist, non-
crazy, non-hateful opinions our
way—editor@grapevine.is!).
The Reykjavík Grapevine has no
“opinion” on anything—our con-
tributors, however do, and they
are their own.
Believe me. Heading Grape-
vine since late 2008, I have many, many times
printed all kinds of stuff I absolutely disagree with.
And I’ll keep doing it. Because, I believe in open dis-
course, and letting ideas and arguments stand on
their own, to be judged by their merit—and because
I believe that our readers are smart, discerning peo-
ple who are perfectly capable of forming their own
opinions based on the arguments and facts at hand
(and that, preferably, they would challenge what-
ever they disagree with in writing and send some
responses our way).
However, we try pretty hard not to print false-
hoods or things that are demonstrably false. We
usually succeed, too (which is kind of amazing,
given that we barely employ a proofreader, let alone
a team of fact-checkers (or a single one, really)).
Which brings me to page eight of this very issue.
On there, to the right, you’ll find an opinion piece
that one Barry Shaw (author of ‘Fighting Hamas,
BDS and Anti-Semitism’) sent our way last week,
and was very adamant we publish. The piece is
called “Reykjavík Must Be Punished For Its Hy-
pocrisy,” and in it, the author makes several state-
ments that are demonstrably
false, which we have left in there
to shed a light on what counts as
valid discourse in the camps of
Israel’s defenders.
For instance: Despite what
the author claims, a boycott
against “Jewish” products has
never been discussed in Reyk-
javík City Hall, as reports have
made exceedingly clear and Mr.
Shaw should be well aware of.
Furthermore, “the left-wing
councilman” (who is a woman),
Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, travelled
to Gaza to do humanitarian work, as she has many
times in the past (for some strange reason, there
seems to be a recurring need for humanitarian aid
in the region), rather than “to serve Hamas.”
It is unclear why Mr. Shaw sees reason to wil-
fully obfuscate the very evident, much reported-on
facts of the matter. Such tendencies have been ex-
ceedingly common in the various “articles,” threat-
ening emails and internet comments we at The
Reykjavík Grapevine have received since reports
started coming out on our city’s proposed ban on
purchasing Israeli goods—along with attempts to
conflate the State of Israel with Jewish people as
a whole (and a whole lot of fuckin’ swearing and
name-calling—the above headline quotes one of our
Facebook commenters, lol).
Indeed, the forceful nature of Israel's every re-
sponse to any measure of criticism, along with the
vehement rage and blatant emotional appeals they
entail, betray how daunting it must be, having to de-
fend the indefensible on a regular basis.
Editorial: Haukur S. Magnússon
TRACK
OF THE
ISSUE

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Börn
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Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir