Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.11.2017, Blaðsíða 8

So you’re moving to Iceland! Con-
gratulations. You’ve got your visa,
you’ve packed your suitcase and you’ve
Googled pictures of the Blue Lagoon.
You’re halfway there. All you need now
is a place to live.
Enter Leiga á Íslandi (Rent in
Iceland)—a group that helps wandering
vagrants meet their homely match. In
comparison to some of the more exhila-
rating Icelandic Facebook groups, this
one is pretty functional. People post
their housing needs with their budgets
and suitable property owners respond
accordingly. Everyone makes them-
selves look as dull as possible—“I don’t
smoke and I hate partying,” (Wow, okay
then, laaaaaaaaaaaaaame!)—so they
don’t get cast over by a rigged system
which disempowers non-property own-
ers, forcing them to act more like a cog
in a machine than a real human just so
they can keep a roof over their heads.
Nonetheless, despite the group’s
utilitarian leanings, it
still has its moments,
such as when you’re
scrolling through the
feed, and a frisson of
excitement shoots through your spine
as you find multiple suitors to an al-
luring flat, warring with their “PM me”
messages in the comment thread. Who
will win? Well, who’s the least smokiest
non-smoker? Who
hates pets more?
We’ll never know.
And of course,
the insane pricing
in downtown Reykjavík means nobody
can escape the all-encompassing hor-
ror and incredulity you’ll feel rising
through your chest and weaving around
your bones as you face your new, stu-
pidly expensive life in Iceland. “Looks
like my toilet for 90k,” says one member,
regarding a tiny flat up for grabs. “PM
me,” reads the comment below.
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Words:
Charley Ward
Words:
Elías Þórisson
AROUND ICELAND IN 80 FACEBOOK GROUPS
Leiga
All the housing not fit for AirBnB
WORD OF THE ISSUE
A phrase you should never use in a news
article is “some people say.” Who are these
people? But saying “some fools say,”—now,
there is a line you can freely use. The word
“gárungar” has many meanings, like fools,
reckless people or showoffs, and it serves
as the Icelandic equivalent of stating some-
thing that someone might have said. For in-
stance, here is a 1993 headline from the old
Social Democrat newspaper Alþýðublaðið
about how terrible the town Kópavogur is:
“Gárungar called Kópavogur little Korea.”
8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20 — 2017
READER'S LETTER
On Doomed
Partner-
ships
Dear Sir,
I am in distillery/liquor co for last
35 years. I have worked in leading
groups of india, burma-union of
Myanmar, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and
free town-sierra leone. My area of
job is to develop alcoholic, non-
alcoholic, wine, energy drinks etc. If
willing to need my updated profile
and services, kindly let me know to
proceed further.
Kind regards,
s k srivastava
master blender
India
Congratulations on your long and
successful career. 35 years is a long
time to spend on your craft—and in
the leading groups at that! Wow. We
are sure that you develop the best
alcoholic, non-alcoholic, wine and
energy drinks etc. in the whole of
Freetown Sierra Leone. We respect
that.
Unfortunately, we will have to pass
on viewing your updated profile and
services, because we are a local
Icelandic newspaper. We report on
issues pertaining to those living in,
or visiting, Iceland. We don’t do much
by way of blending beverages. It’s
not that the team doesn’t appreciate
the subtlety and balance inherent
in a well crafted energy drink,
and certainly not when it’s been
developed by a Master Blender like
yourself. It’s just that we don’t really
need to come up with new drinks,
we just have to write about Icelandic
news and events. Honestly, S K, we’re
confused. Did… did you… did you even
mean to send this to us?
Nevertheless, we shall raise a
glass to your achievements at our
next wine mixer.
Cheers!
The Grapevine
The main feature of this $950/€820 per month windowless 14m2 / 220ft2 room: The ShowerToilet™
Some booze, possibly from India
LÓABORATORIUM
Echo & The
Bunnymen’s
‘The Cutter’

Words: Jenna Mohammed
Long ago, Iceland was graced with the
presence of one of the best new wave,
post-punk bands from Liverpool, Echo
& the Bunnymen. In 1982, they filmed
a music video for their single ‘The Cut-
ter’ from their third album ‘Porcupine.’
Shot at the Gullfoss waterfall located
in southwest Iceland, the video fea-
tures the Icelandic landscape, which
perfectly reflects the cold and isolated
image the band has become known for.
Originally the music video was sup-
posed to be shot in Scotland, but since
it was uncertain that there would be
enough snow there in November, Ice-
land was the next option. You can
see that in the music video, Gullfoss
was completely frozen and covered in
snow. Today, if you were to go there
at the same time of year the video
was shot 35 years ago, there would be
very little snow and the falls would
not be close to frozen at all. It really
puts global warming into perspective.
The band's lighting engineer, Bill
Butt, directed the music video. He
wanted the video to mirror the frigid
feel to the music on the record, and
you can’t really get more frigid than
Iceland! Lead singer Ian McCulloch
claimed it was a dangerous process,
saying that if anyone slipped there
wasn’t anything for hundreds of feet
below them. The band recalls that the
entire time they were in Iceland, the
sun never shone, and to walk, stand
up or just think seemed like a massive
effort…welcome to winter in Iceland.
The album cover features a photo of
the band standing not far from the
ledge of Gullfoss. Despite the danger-
ous effort, British music magazine
‘Q’ claims the cover is the epitome
of the rock band as heroic archetype:
“Young men on some ill-defined
but glorious mission, one easily as
timeless as the stars and the sea.”
“It looks like my
toilet for 90k.”
“Gárungar”
First
WHERE WAS IT SHOT
Some Bunnymen, bunnying around, gambolling freely in the Icelandic wilderness and snacking on carrots and lettuce
Davíð Oddsson, a political "Gárungur" for Morgunblaðið newspaper