Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.10.2017, Síða 8

Officially called, “Kettir á Facebook,
aðdáendur katta og allir dýravinir
(KAFAKAD)”—or “Cats on Face-
book, cat admirers and all animal
friends”—this group proves that
Icelanders are mostly “Cat People.”
It has to be noted however that
the group is adamantly inclusive of
other animals too; all are welcome.
A trait I feel is inherent in Cat Peo-
ple, who in my anecdotal and not sci-
entifically backed experience, is that
they always follow up any admission
of their love for cats with the state-
ment, “I like dogs too, I just prefer cats.”
Arsenic ocelots
Dog People meanwhile, always seem
really intense about disliking cats
and have some story about how a cat
once scratched them when they were
a child and then poisoned their en-
tire extended family with arsenic.
Since being founded by Steinar Óliv-
ersson in 2010, the KAFAKAD group has
garnered over 15,000 members. The
corresponding Icelandic dog apprecia-
tion Facebook page—more succinctly
named “Hundar og Hvolpar,” or “Dogs
and Puppies”—has just over 14,000.
As the name of our featured Face-
book group might suggest, there are a
lot of cat pictures and videos and that’s
what’s fun about it, let’s be real. Cat vids
forever, lolz. But KAFAKAD has also
evolved beyond mere internet meme-
ing. People post pictures of lost cats and
ask members to keep an eye out for pets
that haven’t been home for a few days.
Tender tom-lovers
Then there’s the practical stuff: what cat
food is the best, what the new contact
details for the emergency veterinar-
ian’s office are, and what the rules for
traveling abroad with your cats are, etc.
What’s especially touching about
the KAFAKAD group, though, is when
bereaved members who have recently
lost their pets post pictures and short
obituaries. Within hours the commu-
nity rises up around them to help them
grieve and to celebrate their cat’s life.
These kinds of posts have made me
cry more than once, for I too know the
pain of loss (RIP Jabba the Catt, 2010-
2015). The loss of our cats unites us all.
Recently there has been an in-
flux of posts crowdsourcing names
for newly adopted cats or kittens and
some of the suggestions are pretty in-
credible. Noted favourites: Snowglobe,
Tempest DuJour, and Þórgrímur. Share this article:
gpv.is/groups
Words:
Nanna Árnadóttir
Words: Paul Fontaine Image: The Monument to the
Unknown Bureaucrat (1993) by Magnús Tómasson
Located on the north bank of Tjörnin, by the
entrance of City Hall. Photo by Art Bicnick
AROUND ICELAND IN 80 FACEBOOK GROUPS
Kettir á Facebook,
aðdáendur katta og
allir dýravinir
Cat fanciers, their friends, relatives and
loose acquaintances
WORD OF THE ISSUE
This is one of those
words which has two
completely different
meanings. It literally
means “concrete,” and is
often used in this sense.
But it is also used to
mean “nonsense,” par-
ticularly of a low quality.
Why does concrete = bullshit? Because
a couple decades ago, it was fashion-
able to say that someone who was not
very bright had “steypu í hausnum,”
or “concrete in the head.” Over time
this was shortened to simply refer
to nonsense in itself as “steypa.” It’s
also a pretty mild word, as far as de-
rogatory slang goes, so you can say it in
polite company. That’s why steypa is this
issue’s Word of the Issue.
8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 19 — 2017
READER'S LETTER
Iceland:
The Total
Experience
In 14 hours
Grapevine minn,
I’ve managed to secure a flight back
to my dearest Iceland this coming
January.
The problem? I’ve only got 14
hours ( from about 5:00 to 19:00)
before I need to be back at Keflavík
to continue my journey from Texas
to Austria. I’ve done the touristy
stuff already, and I definitely want to
check out the new Mathöll and visit
Viðey, but I’m sure there’s plenty I’m
currently ignorant to as well.
How ought I best make use of the
world’s most wonderfully convenient
layover?
Ryan
Congrats, Ryan. We’re pleased you
have the good fortune to grace our
shores again. The Mathöll is fine and
all, but eh—you’ve already done all
of the touristy things around here, so
don’t waste this chance. It takes only
six out of your 14 hours to drive to the
North, so if you hire a car and drive
extremely fast, you’ll have a whole two
hours to spend there before having
to come back. You’ll see basically
half of the country and still have time
for a dip in the Mývatn Nature Baths!
The pumping adrenaline from the
highly likely prospect of missing your
flight will only serve to intensify your
experience. What sounds better to
you, Ryan: a cinnamon bun on a bench
by a bus stop, or a drive through the
country at breakneck speed?
But if you’re too scared to take the
challenge, then Viðey is quite nice
too, we guess.
Have a good time!
The Grapevine
Some meow wows to be had
Iceland, viewed at extreme speed
LÓABORATORIUM
Woodkid - 'I
Love You'
Words: Jenna Mohammed
Looking like an advertisement for Ice-
landic nature, the music video for ‘I
Love You’—what better place than Ice-
land for such a title?—by Woodkid takes
you on a cinematic adventure around
the country.
Director of the video and Renais-
sance man Yoann Lemoine has directed
music videos for many mainstream art-
ists such as Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift
and Katy Perry. Woodkid also plays the
role of video director, as well as graphic
designer, and delves into making his
music with the help of Icelandic nature.
Made in October 2012 and shot only
in black and white, the video takes you
on a journey to the south coast. Scenes
following the protagonist as he wanders
through the geothermal area of Krýsu-
vík, the black sand beach of Reynisfjara
and the striking glacier Sólheimajökull.
You can spend a great amount of time
exploring the glacier, as the film crew
spent most of the day shooting there.
There is an unplanned scene where
the main character is taken down by
a strong wave at Reynisfjara, which
made it into the video but without the
part where the entire crew got soaked.
The only scene filmed in downtown
Reykjavík was inside the independent
Lutheran Church, Fríkirkja, which is
located on the scenic Tjörnin lake.
Iceland is known to be vividly colour-
ful, but the monochromatic landscape
portrayed in ‘I Love You’ shows off its
beauty in a subtle way. At first you would
think the entire video is CGI—nope,
it’s just Iceland in its purest form.
“Steypa”
First
Woodkid walking out into the water at Reynisfjara where you're not supposed to go into
the water 'cause people keep drowning there because of the crazy undercurrents
WHERE WAS IT SHOT