Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2017, Blaðsíða 8

As with hot dogs and unprotected sex,
Icelanders are bizarrely fond of the
long-running American animated TV
show ‘The Simpsons’. For people in this
country between their mid-twenties and
mid-forties, it’s basically ‘Mean Girls’.
While much of the population of Ice-
land could be said to be fans of the show,
two thousand nine hundred and eleven
residents are even more obsessed, so
give a big “Hey-Diddly-Ho!" to the mem-
bers of the popular
Facebook group,
“Æ on Spring-
f i e l d - Í s l e n -
skir Simpsons
aðdáendur” or
“Eye on Spring-
field - Icelandic
Simpsons fans.”
(Æ being a homo-
nym of eye - not
the actual Icelan-
dic word for eye.)
The group was created in 2013 by Björn
Þór Björnsson, and in only four years
has collected two thousand two hun-
dred and ninety three more mem-
bers than there are Simpsons epi-
sodes. Slow down that SPEED man.
As you might expect, the group con-
sists mostly of a hodgepodge of memes
and screenshots from the show. That
said, since ‘The Simpsons’ has been
alive and kicking for 29 seasons—for
reference, so has
Rihanna—there is
ample material for
compelling memes
relating to any situ-
ation. For instance,
last week the 2017
World Yoyo Contest
was held at Harpa.
In response, Gunna
Herberts posted a
screenshot of epi-
sode 16 from season
three, entitled, ‘Bart the Lover,’ with the
caption: “Yoyo festival in Iceland…” The
shot depicts Edna’s response to Nelson’s
dumbass question, “Did [the Pilgrims]
have yo-yos?” The iconic teacher is giv-
ing him a pissed-off condescending
glare, saying, “No, they did not have
yo-yos.” See? The show is relevant for
everything. It even predicted Trump!!
In fact, in the 24th season, there was
an episode called ‘The Saga Of Carl,’
which guest-starred then-Prime Min-
ister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
and an extremely obscure band called
Sigur Rós. In the episode, Carl gets back
to his Icelandic roots and learns the true
meaning of friendship. It’s heartwarm-
ing, just like the music of Sigur Rós.
So, why do Icelanders like the
Simpsons so much? Who knows? It’s
probably something in their DNA.
As the Icelanders famously said as
they were conquered by the Danish:
“And I for one, hérna, welcome our
new superior overlords. Já, já já já…” Share this article:
gpv.is/groups
Words:
Hannah Cohen-
Brockman
Words:
Elías Þórsson
AROUND ICELAND IN 80 FACEBOOK GROUPS
Æ On
Springfield
Icelandic Simpsons fans
WORD OF
THE ISSUE
Look up “hommi” in the dictionary and
you’ll find the definition of a gay man. But
colloquially this word refers to something
else: a dustpan and broom with a long
handle. While the idea of a long handle
might conjure up the obvious phallic sym-
bolism, the meaning of the word actually
originated at the gay bar, 22, on Laugave-
gur in the late ‘80s as an excellent self-
deprecating joke. Former manager of that
bar, Ingi Rafn Hauksson, explains, “It was
a way to make fun of ourselves, because an
item used to pick up trash is the lowest of
the low.” Today, if you work at any bar in
Iceland, remember that “get the gay man”
probably means you’re on trash duty.
8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2017
READER'S LETTER
I just skimmed an article written by
Ms. Davidson in early 2016, lauding
Iceland's national healthcare system
that she immigrated into in favor of
the expensive American mostly pri-
vate sector healthcare system Ms.
Davidson left behind.
It's too bad Ms. Davidson com-
pared the two healthcare systems,
because there's NO comparison.
You see, I skimmed Ms. Davidson's
article as a follow up to a television
description of the national abortion
requirement for all Icelandic babies
with Downs Syndrome.
In America that obscenity could
only happen if America were stupid
enough to nationalize its healthcare.
There's another hurdle for Ms.
Davidson's recommendation for an
American national healthcare sys-
tem: It's something called popula-
tion.
Iceland's population is around
340,000.
America's population is around
355,000,000.
Iceland's healthcare system is a
political system.
America's system is mostly medi-
cal.
As an American I'm happy Ms. Da-
vidson is gone. She'll soon find that
Iceland's healthcare will descend
more and more into obscenity. I hope
America has the fortitude to main-
tain the liberty of a private health-
care system.
- John Barbaro, Jackson, NJ, USA
Dear Mr. Barbaro
There is in fact absolutely no
such requirement to abort fetuses
that show signs of Down Syndrome.
Rather, medical professionals are
required to inform women that they
can have pre-natal screening. There
are many Icelanders, of all ages, with
Down's Syndrome, and they are just
as beloved as any other person in
this country. America’s health care
system is demonstrably lacking
while somehow managing to be more
expensive per capita. There is no
“liberty” where liberty is contingent
on income level. Hope that helps!
Love,
Grapevine Staff
Write to us via Facebook, or email us at
letters@grapevine.is
The Simpsons' Iceland episode, where they jumped the fermented shark
LÓABORATORIUM
the eighth movie was shot in Iceland.
We’re talking, of course, about the cin-
ematic hallmark of the century, ‘The
Fate of the Furious.’
The basic plot of the film revolves
around some guys who drive cars. They
drive cars and usually the cars crash but
they never die and then they fly to an-
other place and drive cars there. Then
there’s usually a bad guy who drives a
car and he dies at the end. Voila! Hit.
Anyway, in this iteration, the car
bros drive over the Mývatn Lake in
Northern Iceland. That’s right, over a
lake—who wouldn’t pay 2.000 ISK to
see that?? The answer is losers!!!
In this scene, a ton of cars speed
over the ice until some evil submarine
surfaces and the whole lake explodes
like a pimple. Then hottie Vin Diesel
yells, “Oh shit! We’re going to need a
bigger truck!” Double hottie Tyrese
Gibson looks out the window. “It’s right
under us! Get out of the way!”
Obviously, they don’t, as that would
make a boring movie, and instead, they
drive full speed in front of the ice-explod-
ing submarine. “Get us out of here!” Tyrese
screams. “Why are you always yelling?!”
Vin Diesel responds back. Comedy mo-
ment! Then more stuff explodes and Mi-
chelle Rodriguez yells, “That’s not good!”
She’s probably talking about the movie.
If this isn’t compelling in itself, the ice
explosion was actually the largest man-
made explosion in Iceland ever—even
more so than the financial crisis in 2008.
While the film itself is kind of shitty,
the saving grace is how attractive the
actors are. Everyone is super sexy and
watching them speed over ice will fire
up your loins just like global warming.
Watch it alone in your room while sit-
ting on a towel. You’ll need it.
A message from
the Methadone
metronome
The Fate Of
The Furious

Words: Hannah Jane Cohen
Picture: Still from the movie
Do you like cars? What about muscles?
What about cars driven by muscles?
Sounds sexy, right? Well, lucky for
you—our adrenaline-junkie reader—
there’s eight movies devoted entirely
to this concept. And even luckier for
you, one whole five minute segment of
“Since ‘The Simpsons’
has been alive and
kicking for 29 seasons,
there is ample material
for compelling memes
relating to any situa-
tion.’
“...The car
bros drive
over the Mý-
vatn Lake’’
Hommi
First