Reykjavík Grapevine - ágú. 2020, Blaðsíða 18

Stay (In)Sane, Stay Inside
How to keep calm during the second wave of COVID-19!
Doctors hate us!
Words: Valur Grettisson Photos: EVE Online & Art Bicnick
So how does one stay sane in the
slowness of the second wave of CO-
VID-19? To be honest, we have no
idea, but that didn’t stop us from
writing this guide. Whatever the
solution is—good food, slapstick
comedies, and aggressive metal
can’t hurt.
DENIAL: ESCAPISM & FOOD
If you feel like the smallness and
homogeneity of Iceland is choking
your soul in this brutal era, induce
some radical escapism by re-organ-
ising your apartment into a Span-
ish villa—no, the Mexican som-
brero is not allowed, you idiot—and
ordering some mouth-watering
Spanish paella and unearthly cro-
quettes from Matur og Drykkur.
Don’t worry, they do home delivery
so you can stay safely distanced
from others. Matur og Drykkur is
a Grapevine favourite and actu-
ally a Michelin-starred restaurant,
it just, well, *technically* needs a
star. If you’re not convinced, this
paella will convince you. I ate an en-
tire pan last weekend and downed
it with some sangria and an old Al-
modóvar movie.
ANGER: METAL, METAL, METAL
So, you’ve been locked inside for
God knows how long now, and now
you just want to scream. Indulge
that desire by deconstructing your
Spanish-villa-Vesturbær apart-
ment and remodeling it in the style
of a Norwegian black metal venue
from the early 90s. To complete
the look, dye your hair black, paint
your face white, turn Svartidau!i
and Mis"yrming up to eleven, and
spend all night complaining on the
internet that whatever cool Ice-
landic black metal release has just
come out is not real black metal.
Then faint due to all the scream-
ing or wait until the neighbours call
the cops. Either way works. Pick up
the latest Icelandic metal releases
at Geisladiskabú! Valda… not that
they are real metal of course.
BARGAINING: DISCONNECTING
FROM REALITY
Do you like to piss into bottles?
How about neglecting everything
that matters in your real life? Even
your kids? If the answer is yaas and
yaas and fuck yaaas, we have a solu-
tion for you to avoid this COVID-
catastrophe entirely and also have
some crazy fun at the same time!
EVE Online is a complex “sandbox”
MMORPG where players are free to
roam around the universe to scam,
rule, steal, profit or troll as they
please. We’d recommend getting
into gas harvesting, negotiating
a deal with some vigilante police
officers, and becoming some sort
of space mafia boss. Regardless,
if you get a membership and start
playing, we promise that the next
time you look at the clock, it’ll be
around June 2025. The downside, of
course, is that you’ll be out of a job,
your kids won’t talk to you and you
will be bankrupt, both emotionally
and financially. But hey, who needs
a family when you have Sims?
DEPRESSION: WATCHING
“COMEDIES”
The best way to sustain depression
is typically to watch an Icelandic
movie. How many ways can we
tell a slow story about a struggling
middle-aged man in the country-
side? Apparently a lot! Occasionally
though, Icelanders produce bril-
liant comedies. ‘N#tt líf,’ ‘Dalalíf’
and ‘Löggulíf’ are all silly slapstick
films about city boys trying to start
a new life in, well, the countryside
obviously. You could also check
out ‘Me! allt á hreinu,’ the only
successful musical comedy made
in Iceland, featuring Stu!menn
and the legendary feminist band
Gr"lurnar. Pick up all of them at
A!alvídeóleigan.
ACCEPTANCE: READ, STUBIT!
Books? Remember them? We don’t
either, but we were forced to read
them all in school just like you. If
you really want to kill time, get the
grasp of a nation, and maybe find
some philosophical insight into this
depressing world all at the same
time, then there’s some key litera-
ture to read. To save your mental
health, we’d recommend ‘Hei!a:
A Shepherd At The Edge Of The
World’ by Steinunn Sigur!ardót-
tir, translated by Philip Roughton.
It’s a unique insight into the real
life of Hei!a, a supermodel in New
York who left the spotlight to be-
come a farmer. For fiction, go for
‘Woman At 1000 Degrees’ by Hall-
grímur Helgason, translated by
Brian FitzGibbon. It’s about an old
woman with a hand grenade who
is reminiscing on her batshit crazy
upbringing in World War 2 and her
Nazi father. Fun stuff. If you fin-
ish those and need to kill even more
time, there’s always the collected
works of Halldór Laxness.
FINDING MEANING:
...tba
BEST OF REYKJAVÍK
Best Bookstore
Eymundsson
Austurstræti 18 &
Skólavör!ustígur 11
Eymundsson is a classic book-
store, offering up the newest in
Icelandic writing and interna-
tional titles. It has the rare char-
acteristic of being perfectly cu-
rated for both locals and tourists,
so if you’re a traveller looking to
get an illustrated edition of the
Sagas, or a Reykjavík kid hoping
to pick up the definitely-going-
to-be-released upcoming Game
Of Thrones book, this would be
the place to find it. Bonus: The
cafes at the Skólavör!ustígur
and Austurstræti locations also
make for great people-watching
spots.
RUNNERS UP
Bókin
Klapparstígur 25-27
If you’re looking to buy the new-
est Dan Brown, Bókin may not
be your thing. But if you’re look-
ing for a collectors-edition copy
of an Icelandic book long out of
print, there’s only one option,
and that’s Bókin. “It has cha-
risma, which makes it a win-
ner,” one panel member said. “If
there’s a store in Reykjavík with
charisma, uniqueness, nerve,
and talent, it’s Bókin.”
Bóksala Stúdenta
Sæmundargata 4
Located within the main build-
ing of Háskóli Íslands, the
university bookstore runs the
gamut from speciality academic
texts to classics, new fiction,
notebooks and much more. An-
other plus? The on-site coffee
shop serves up what are poten-
tially the fairest priced coffees in
town, as does the Háskóli Íslands
cafeteria next door.
18The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06— 2020Best of Reykjavík
First, play EVE Online. Second, become a famous Twitch streamer. Third, sell your bathwater!
Now that's some yummy yum
“Who needs a
family when
you have
Sims?”
Joy, Sustainability
& Honesty
Kaupvangur 17 - Egilsstadir
tel: +354-471-2450
Happy Hour
all days 15 - 19
Best selection of Icelandic
Beers in the East
Private rooms & dorms
Homemade cakes & soups,
vegan & friendly food
Mon ciel,
mi cielo.
What do you
really mean?
Ingibjörg
Sigurjónsdóttir
17.06. - 06.09. 2020
Sk
af
tfe
ll
- C
en
te
r f
or
V
isu
al
A
rt Austurvegur 42 Seyðisfjörður. · skaftfell.is