Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2016, Side 6

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Figures
Don't
Lie
Approximate number of
Airbnb postings in the
Reykjavík area alone
Approximate
percentage of Airbnb
locations in Iceland that
have an actual license to
operate
The number of actual
seasons in Iceland*
* Winter and winter lite.
The number of Icelanders
named in the Panama Papers
leak
There's no
English
word for:
The word of the issue this issue
is steikt. Taken literally, it means
“fried,” but taken as slang, it re-
fers to a thing which is strange,
inappropriate, poorly conceived,
and bordering on surreal. Sel-
dom meant as a compliment.
Used in a sentence: “Þessi þát-
tur er fáránlega steiktur, ég skil
ekkert í honum.” (“This TV show
is ridiculously fried, I don't under-
stand anything going on in it.”)
SHARE: gpv.is/steikt
Steikt
THIS
ISSUE'S
ISSUE
Development
FOR
Have you ever been woken up in the
morning by the sound of heavy con-
struction equipment? That’s the sound
of progress, my friend. You don’t think
this country built itself fully formed, do
you? No. It took decades of tearing things
down to be able to spend decades build-
ing new things up.
Turn up your nose all you like at giant
open pits of gravel, incessant air-ham-
mering and streets closed so enormous
cranes can park there. Fact is, none of you
latte-sipping, scarf-wearing, self-satis-
fied bohemian types would have a place
to open your Macs if someone didn’t
mow down some old houses to build the
coffee shop you’re reading this in right
now.
Rush Limbaugh once said that the
best thing about a tree is what you can
make out of it. As is always the case, Rush
was right. If Iceland is ever to be the in-
ternational player it thinks it already is,
it needs to start acting like one. And by
that I mean it needs to look like one. And
part of looking like one is having great
big honking stark towers crowding the
skyline and blocking the view of the sea.
My fervent hope is that one day, down-
town Reykjavík will look less like the set
of a Charlie Chaplin flick and more like
‘Blade Runner’. Together, capitalists all
over the city can—and, mark my words,
will—make that happen.
AGAINST
Last issue, I complained about puffin
shops, but I was ignoring the root of the
problem, which is downtown develop-
ment. Older establishments having to
shutter their doors to make way for an-
other corporate franchise or hotel is one
thing; living in a city that looks like it’s
still half-finished is just embarrassing.
Not only is development ugly to look
at; it’s arguably unpatriotic.
Why do the colourful streets of Reyk-
javík need to look like any other concrete-
and-glass city? Why do we have all these
foreign influences, ruining the purity of
Iceland’s pure culture of pure pureness? I
know this may sound a little extreme, but
we should really band together and purge
the country of all foreign influence.
Imagine how much cuter, how much
more adorable, how downright pictur-
esque Reykjavík would look if it was noth-
ing but turf houses, open sewers, and un-
paved roads. I mean, let’s be honest here:
this is pretty much the Iceland most
tourists already expect to see, right? Why
not give them what they want?
I realise that tearing up the asphalt,
removing indoor plumbing, shutting off
the power and making everyone live in
structures they fashioned from dirt and
whale bones could be considered a tiny
step back in time. But if we did that, we
would then have a wholly Icelandic town
to live in, unsullied by any influence
from the outside world. And because I
love Iceland so much, that’s exactly what
I want.
SHARE: gpv.is/boom
Photo: Art Bicnick
Advertisement
I kind of have to say something
about advertisements.
Look. Not too happy about them.
That's just the way it is.
A POEM BY is curated by Grapevine’s
poetry liaison, Jón Örn Loðmfjörð
A Poem By
Bragi Páll
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2016
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