Reykjavík Grapevine - Jul 2021, Page 4

What Are Icelanders
Talkin! About?
The headlines that !ot folks banned
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine Photos: Hör!ur Sveinsson & AdobeStock
The most talked-about
subject in recent days has
been the coronavirus, but with
a positive twist: on June 25th, the
Icelandic government announced it
was lifting all domestic pandemic
restrictions, effective midnight
that day. As this was the start of
the weekend, people naturally took
full advantage, with many upload-
ing photos and vids showing
scenes from Reykjavík’s downtown
bacchanalia. And then the follow-
ing Monday, five new domestic
cases of the coronavirus—all from
people outside quarantine—were
reported. Sure is a good thing
vaccinations are moving along as
fast as they are.
With so many people excited about
the Disney+ series Loki, now
would be a good time to remind
people that Disney aggressively
pursues some very broad interpre-
tations of what they consider their
intellectual property. Just like their
attempts to trademark the ancient
Swahili phrase “hakuna matata” in
the wake of the Lion King, Disney
now appears to be taking aim at
pretty much anyone utilising the
name or likeness of the ancient
Norse god Loki. One content creator
learned this the hard way when
their T-shirt, bearing the words
“Low Key”, was temporarily taken
down by Redbubble due to a copy-
right claim. Makes you wonder if
Disney will one day add Jesus Christ
to the MCU just to sue every church
in the world.
The case against Julian Assange
just had a few major holes blown
through it, as the key witness for
the FBI, Sigur!ur Ingi "ór!arson,
has admitted to fabricating a
number of statements he made to
authorities about his work and rela-
tionship with Assange. Sigur!ur,
better known as “Siggi the hacker,”
admitted that, contrary to the testi-
monial he made to US authorities,
Assange never ordered him to hack
the phones of Icelandic MPs, but
he was given recordings of their
conversations by a third party.
Entirely unsurprising, as Siggi
is a known fabulist with a shady
history. Let’s just say you wouldn’t
want this guy to be your key witness
for a notary signing, let alone an
espionage case.
Lastly, a bizarre culture war of sorts
has erupted over electric scooters
in Reykjavík. No, this isn’t about
people who leave them sprawled
across the sidewalk. Rather, a
recent report said that a great
many accidents on scooters can be
attributed to people riding them
while intoxicated. The solution: ban
riding scooters on weekends. This
naturally raised the question about
cars: after all, drunk driving criti-
cally injures and kills people, doing
far more damage than scooters
ever could, so what about banning
them on weekends instead? This
exact point was raised by Dóra Björt
Gu!jónsdóttir, a Pirate Party repre-
sentative for Reykjavík City Coun-
cil, who more correctly pointed
out that scooter accidents are far
more likely to be caused by the sorry
state of city sidewalks. So for now,
at least, the scooter is safe, all week
long.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2021First
NEWS
Coincidentally, this is how Icelanders have always imagined Loki
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Siggi the Hacker... more like Siggi the Snitch
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