�����������������������������������������

���� ���� ����

��������������������� ������������������������������������������������ �������������������������

������������������� �������������� ������������������� ������������������������ ������������ ����������������������� ���������� ����������� ���������������������� ������������� ���������������������������������������������������������� 2

ISSUE EIGHT: SEPTEMBER 03 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2004 Articles 06 ARE WE IN NORTH KOREA? A young poet gets angry about Kárahnjúkar

08 OUT OF BALANCE Do we like paedophiles more than pot-smokers? 12 LIFE IMITATES SATIRE After 13 years, the Prime Minister leaves office. What next? 13 DID YOU JUST SAY WICIOUS? The Icelandic W problem uncovered Feature 14 DRESSING FOR THE OCCASION he Reykjavík Grapevine crew Iceland has no army. But Icelanders are carrying arms in Afghanistan. T The Reykjavík Grapevine Hafnarstræti 15, 2nd floor Arts & Culture www.grapevine.is [email protected] 24 YE OLDE ICELAND IS BACK IN ACTION Editors: 561-2323 / 845-2152 / [email protected] We finally have a National Museum again. Advertising: 562-1213 / 869-7796 / [email protected] 25 YOUR MEMORIES LOOK LIKE THIS Distribution: 562-1213 / 898-9249 / [email protected] It´s amazing what you can do with a plastic camera made in China Listings: 562-1213 / 869-7796 / [email protected] Production: 561-2329 / 849-5611 /[email protected]

Music & Nightlife Publisher: Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / [email protected] Editor: Valur Gunnarsson / [email protected] 19 MUGI GOES TO THE MOVIES Co-editor: Robert Jackson / [email protected] The Westfjords´ one man band scores. Listings editor: Jón Trausti Sigurðarson / [email protected] REVENGE OF THE DRUM NERDS 26 Production manager: Oddur Óskar Kjartansson The Sugarcubes drummer is back. And he´s brought a friend. / [email protected] 27 HARVESTING THE FERTILE IMAGINATION Creative director: Hörður Kristbjörnsson / [email protected] Múm comes home Photographer: Hörður Sveinsson / [email protected] Proofreader: Paul Fontaine-Nikolov 25 BUBBI´S EGO Art Correspondent & Copy Reader: Marcie Hume Bad, bald and bigger than ever. Advertising directors: Hilmar Steinn & Jón Trausti Distribution: Jóhann Páll Hreinsson

Food Cover photo by: Silja Magg. / [email protected] On cover: Kári Steinarsson. 18 A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WHALING Thanks to: Army.is, [email protected]. Maxfish 30 FRY AND THE FAMILY STONE And the models who shaved their hair off. A food fetishist´s fantasy brought to life Printed by: Ísafoldarprentsmiðja ehf. Outside Reykjavík # of copies: 30.101 34 IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE SET THEM FREE Robert gets to talk about fishing writers 36 MY TIRES ARE BIGGER THAN YOURS Moody´s Mountain Taxicab confessions wanted Send enquires to [email protected] 29 23 26 24 Planned day tours:

Landmanna- The Golden Volcano Iceland Glacier laugar Hekla Circle in a Nutshell Mýrdalsjökull Volcano Hekla Explosion crater A real 4x4 safari Glacier • Geological wonders Extraordinary landscape Hot natural bath Colors and craters • Geologival adventure Snowmobile ride Glaciers • Hot springs • Lava caves Unique combination of fire and ice LETTERS Complaints, criticism, suggestions, praise, money in new, unmarked bills, anything at all: Contact [email protected] or send your mail to: The Reykjavík Grapevine, Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík Whilst chatting with a friend on the corner of Aus- seriously affected the articles objective and overall loss of turstræti and Pósthússtræti the other day I was ap- meaning. He has made it clear that he is unhappy with proached by a group of tourists - how did I know they the changes made and if he had been made aware of the were tourists? The umbrellas and German accent were changes, he would have preferred the article not to be a giveaway - one of the tourists proceeded to ask me if I published. Grapevine acknowledges Hassan’s comments could direct them to downtown Reykjavik. My immedi- and unreservedly apologises. ate reaction was either he is taking the piss or he has Regards not done his homework - I opted for the latter and told Hassan him apologetically that look no further, this is it - even though I did not mention the war he gave me that kind There you go. of very funny ha ha lost dog look and walked away look- ing for a second opinion. Good morning, GW. I’ve just come back to Italy after a very beautiful trip around Iceland. During my stay on the island, by chance, What war? The war in Iraq? Germans are pacifists these I came to read your article dated 19th August about a days. Losing a war does that to you. Winning one makes you fact of racism involving some “Southern European men”. want more, which is perhaps why the US has been almost Well, after having read all the letter your final commen- constantly involved in wars since 1945. tary left me really amazed. How can you generalize in that way affirming that Italians are “the root of racism”?? I like your magazine. I’d like it much more if it didn’t How can you confuse an unpolite behaviour of some attack my typographic and grammatical sensibilities stupid guys with the word racism? Don’t you think that with alarming frequency. I hope you can improve your sentences like that are based only on prejudices and for publication by absorbing and applying the following sure aren’t very polite towards a whole European country information. like Italy? I’m the first to apologize if a small part of Italians had an unpolite behaviour, but if you generalize This is an apostrophe: ‘ like that, I’m sorry, but I will start to believe that the real This is not an apostrophe: ´ racists are you. By the way, Italy isn’t the only southern On an Icelandic keyboard, an apostrophe may be input European country. The men subject of the article could by pressing the key that, when pressed in conjunction have been Spanish, Greek, southern French.... Anyway I with the shift key, produces a question mark. suggest you to come down to visit Southern Europe, you will notice that the people are much more friendly and The apostrophe is used in place of one or more other less racist compared to many Northern countries. characters that have been removed for brevity. The neu- Best regards from Rome ter singular possessive pronoun, “its”, is only three letters Carlo Magistrelli to begin with; it hasn’t been shortened and doesn’t need an apostrophe. Jeez…Somebody wrote in saying that the root cause of racism was oogling Southern Europeans in hot tubs. I did the only Example: It’s said that a leopard cannot change its spots. sensible thing and made fun of this suggestion. Apparently, not everyone got it. Dashes are often misused, but that doesn’t mean you have to. See http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/typeset- First of all I would like to thank u, for having an English ting/a/usingdashes.htm newspaper, for American people like us, I would like to say and hopefully u will print this out. Here goes, Iceland The use of single and double quotes around words, is becoming to be one of the worlds best tourist attrac- phrases, and quotations should be consistent. tions, and I think that Icelanders, especially kids, should be taught how to be polite with the foreigners, especially Currently, all of these things are done correctly by some Asian people, yah they all look funny with there chinky authors some of the time. An editor’s job includes mak- eyes, but they are not stupid, nor poor, some Asian ing sure these things are consistently correct throughout people that come here are very rich, and dignified. I see each issue. teenagers mocking them and making fun of them, and even mature people. I know that this is your country, Happy editing! but you guys should learn to accept other nations and colors. U can teach people how to be nice and not rude. I I always have happy editing. In fact, I´m a very happy editor. myself experience it. Never in my life was I discriminated I´ll happily give this an overhaul as soon as this paper is out. against in America. I take the bus here and everybody looks at me like I am from a different planet. Its funny to Hi you, as you read it but not for me. Yah I am Asian look- Whilst I accept that it is the job and prerogative of ing but born and raised in America…after all without the the editor and co-editor to edit, I feel that the severe tourists the Icelandic economy would be low…why am I editing, re-writing, re-titling and consequent overall here? Because I fell in love. What beauty Iceland has...I loss of meaning of my article without my consent and would like to die here if I can... being informed went a bit far. It would seem to be rather more than pure coincidence that the parts cut, Remember, children, be nice and not rude to one another. namely, Morgunblaðið, Björk, 66°North, Cintamani, Þrír Frakkar, Magnús Magnússon, are about advertisers Sirs: and other articles in the newspaper. If as your email of I was amazed how many locals have dark hair and eyes 26 July, in which you say, “…I want you to be a column- (quite unlike Copenhagen) until the excellent Perlan ist independent of the paper…” is to mean anything, Museum indicated that of the original settlers over 50% then the editing, re-writing and re-titling without my of women and 20% of men were of Celtic descent. The knowledge or consent, seems inappropriate. If you had Norse in the 9th Century established cities along coast- discussed the changes with me, then I would have with- lines and since Ireland was densely populated it may have drawn the article, as in the format that it now appears been easy to bring these people for a new adventure. A is most unsatisfactory to me. Maybe you would like to book I browsed through mentioned Celtic blood might consider an apology in the next issue? I have drafted one be dominant according to blood samples. for your convenience. Donald PS. No need to give my name An apology The article in Issue #7 of Grapevine contained an article The Vikings actually founded Dublin, which may explain entitled ‘Hassan’s World’. Grapevine would like to why the Irish are more handsome than the English. And the point out that this article was severely edited, re-worded Irish blood here might explain why the Icelandic are more and re-titled by Grapevine staff without the author’s sarcastic than Norwegians. Then again, it may just be the knowledge or consent. Hassan has pointed out that this weather. WULFFMORGENTHALER

see more at www.wulffmorgenthaler.com EDITORIAL COUNTRY OF CONSTANT SORROW by Valur Gunnarsson, editor

History is constantly being rewritten. The Islamic fundamental- ists of Afghanistan are our enemies. Hence, they have always been our enemies. Russia is our friend in the struggle against Islamic ter- rorists. It has always been our friend. But doesn´t it sometimes seem as if you’re haunted by visions of a different past?

Didn’t the mujaheddin once appear its own hands and sent in the Red contributing in no small way to the the Afghanis, so resistance quickly on our screens along with the Army in December 1979. Ever since, collapse of the Soviet Union. collapsed. As always, thousands West’s finest, Rambo and James the flow of world history has seemed Zia Al-Haq, the Pakistani dictator of innocent civilians were killed. Bond, liberating the freedom loving to emanate from this mountainous who has spearheaded the anti- But once the smoke cleared, a Afghanis from the evil Russians? Just backwater. With the Russian Soviet effort, was at wars end new situation presented itself. The as the Berlin blockade brought us a invasion, Afghanistan became killed in a mysterious plane crash, international community could change in bad guys in 1948, when a highway for every intriguing and Afghanistan seemed that it now make right what it had done the tyrannical Russians cut off the secret service in the world. The would once again disappear from wrong a decade before, and the long, freedom loving Germans of Berlin, a CIA, MI6, Pakistani ISI, Chinese the mainstream of history. It was hard task of reconstruction could city the Americans and Russians had military intelligence, the Saudis, the abruptly abandoned by the powers begin. Or so it seemed. Again, the taken turns reducing to rubble three Egyptians, the French; all poured who had taken such a keen interest opportunity was left unused. Instead years prior. in arms and money, and Muslim in it during the anti-Soviet war, of concentrating on reconstruction, Afghanistan has always had a international brigades were formed and left to rot. The arms that had an ill thought out invasion of Iraq habit of stopping history dead in of volunteers for fight the Soviets. been pouring into the country for was instead mounted, and again its tracks. Alexander, Timur Lenk, Even the Israelis sent in Russian ten years were now put to use in the Afghanistan was forgotten. Today, the Persians and the Moghuls all arms captured from the Arabs in civil war that followed the Russian the US sponsored Prime Minister passed through, and failed to gain the 1973 war to support Islam, a withdrawal. Karzai controls little outside the a permanent foothold due to fierce decision it would come to regret In an attempt to secure its capital of Kabul, and a NATO force resistance. Even the mighty British when Palestinian volunteer veterans Northern Border, Pakistan sponsored guards the capitals´ international Empire stopped its expansion at returned home to form Hamas. and trained the Taliban movement airport. This force, as it happens, is the borders of Afghanistan, their Men like Osama bin Laden which took over the country in led by an Icelander, Hallgrímur disastrous retreat through the Khyber answered the call to Jihad in their 1994, with reluctant US approval. Sigurðsson. Documentary maker pass in 1842 still being a synonym thousands. Mercenaries, smugglers, Apart from occasional reports of Kristinn Hrafnsson went over there, for suffering and defeat in the religious fanatics; all gathered upon violations of women´s rights, no one and reported back on what is really English mind. Both World Wars this mountain country, from which knew or cared very much what was going in the turf of Commander passed Afghanistan by. It wasn´t not only fundamentalism but also going on in Afghanistan. This all Halli. In this issue of Grapevine, we until the Cold War that history hard drugs were soon to spread changed on the 11th of September get an exclusive report on the daily finally caught up with the country. throughout the world. The Islamic 2001. Suddenly all eyes were on life of the commander´s men. In 1978, the communist party of crusade was then sponsored by the the country again as the attacks Afghanistan came to power in a United States to the tune of a billion were blamed on America´s former We hope you enjoy this last coup. This led to the United States dollars a year. The Soviets tried to ally Osama, currently residing in Grapevine of the summer, which also sponsoring anti-communist forces, play one tribe of against the other, Afghanistan. The US mounted yet happens to be the first Grapevine of and, as the inept regime tottered, but eventually had to withdraw in another invasion. This time, there the winter. See you again in October. the Soviet Union took matters into 1989 after heavy losses, the war was no other superpower to supply Who´s in charge of foreign affairs? by Robert Jackson, co-editor

Having talked to the opposition phone calls it turns out that the man have with Túrists? GWB. (Sensing an opportunity) We regarding the governments position of charge of Iceland´s hot line to were thinking about locating a few on Afghanistan, we tried to get the the President of the United States is GWB to himself. ( Jeez where´s this newcleur silos over you way. Do you governments´ point of view. This the Minister of Agriculture, Guðni guy been for the last three years?) any problem with that? proved more difficult than expected. Ágústsson. Now, if George Bush Teurrists... Teurrists, I said. Foreign The minister of Foreign Affairs, were to ring up in a crisis the answer minister, I just thought I´d let you Guðni. Pauses for even longer (new... soon to be Prime Minister Halldór he would get is a resounding “Ha?”, know that we´ll be sending teurrist clear...silos?) his mind is racing Ásgrimsson, is away from his office for sadly the Minister of Agriculture suspects to our facility at Keflavík and he thinks hard to himself. (he and was therefore unable to give does not speak English, very well. for questioning. We need your help must know we don´t produce much an interview regarding government Perhaps this would put him on equal on this one. Human rights activists wheat...oh well...) Yes Mr President, policy. An approach was made to footing with the President. Their are all over our facilities in Iraq these I´m sure that will not be a problem. Prime minister Davíð Oddsson, but conversation might sound something days. Maybe one or two at first though. turned down on the grounds that like this: he was away on sick leave. While Guðni: to himself. (Seems a strange GWB. Trying hard not to show his Grapevine spent time being bounced GWB on the hotline to the Minister time to do a consumer survey of elation. I have to say Minister that I from one department to another of Agriculture. Sir, I would like visitors to the Airport but he seems ‘preciate your attitude...I´ll let you it seemed not an unreasonable to talk to you about the war on to know what he wants) Já já , know the next time we need your question to find out who was in fact Teur’rism. frábært. You ask as many questions help in liberating a country. responsible for Foreign affairs when of as many turists as you like. Only, the minister is on vacation and the Guðni. Awoken from his sleep. please remind them of the Blue Guðni: Góða Nótt, Mr President. Prime Minister is on sick leave. Ha? Pause for a minute...Ha? Lagoon. Is there anything else I can At first the answer was “We don´t Teur´rism?... Já,...já I’m responsible help you with, Mr. President? know” and then after a number of for Túrism. What problem do you

16 hotels NONNI OG MANNI YDDA / sia.is NM12339 Tel. (+354)444 4000 around iceland 6 ARE WE IN NORTH KOREA? ������� Warning protest The Environmental group Earth First visited the Icelandic Embassy in London to protest about the Kárahnjukar dam and the Alcoa plant. “Neither can be considered of benefit to the Icelandic people since they will destroy, or at least damage their most important asset, Nature” said their leader. The group pledged a continued campaign against the scheme.

Anytime Bill, anytime...

Ex-president Bill Clinton made a fleeting visit to the capital. The world´s most famous hotdog stand, also Grapevine´s staff canteen, played host to Bill. To Maja, the stand clerks disappoint- ment, he only wanted mustard on tar.is is a website paid for by the government. It is supposed to be a news and information website his dog, rather than a “ein með S öllu” But things are looking up and is run by the Ministry of Industry, the Icelandic National Power Company and others. STAR has for business as a summit between become an official preparation committee for the dam and aluminium smelter in the east of Iceland. former world leaders Boris Yeltsin Let’s look at some examples of the news from this website: and Helmut Kohl is expected to take place there. the Kárahnjúkar dam!” With The president of INCA (Iceland Icelanders rejoiced the signing of by Andri Snær Magnason Guðmundur´s course the University Natural Conservation Association) the contract, the general public of Who wears the trousers time... is said to “have done its share in is trod upon, his words are said to Iceland rejoiced the Alcoa board “The opponents of the Kárahnjúkar agitating against the Kárahnjúkar be “crap and nonsense”, headlines decision...” he continues. Are we in dam use lies and untruths.” Below dam”. This is a brutal attack from an declaring “Árni Finnsson still lying North Korea? Star.is is only the tip this heading is an open letter which official source against the freedom of and thoroughly at that.” It is also of the iceberg, just a fraction of the is supposed to “bring to attention speech, professional credibility and stated that “Árni Finnsson, the hundreds of thousands of euros being the lying crap which is being spun financial income of a scholar. Star. president of INCA doesn’t hesitate spent to deliver “information” to against the dam at Kárahnjúkar.” is totally disregards the laws on state to veer far off the truth in his fight the nation through public relations In the letter the natural scientist media which explicitly state that they against the dam.” Friðrik Sófusson, companies where ex-reporters seem Guðmundur Pálsson is accused shall uphold democratic ground rules a director of the Icelandic National free from the constraining ethics of of “lying” when he points out the as well as human rights and freedom Power Company, is quoted as saying the press. This propaganda is paid connection between the Kárahnjúkar of speech and opinions. that INCA is a puppet of foreigners by the state to control the will of the dam and the possible daming of and is working against Icelandic majority and therefore a “democratic Jökulsá á Fjöllum. His “lies” are It’s the same scenario all over. Ómar interests. Should directors of state verdict.” said “to be similar to the lies of Ragnarsson, a respected media enterprises use such nationalistic UK Prime Minister´s wife Cherie Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir [member personality, is said to be in “a holy verbalisms and tailor “Icelandic The obvious questions are: who is Blair spoke to a packed house of parliament] used on television war against dams and large scale interests” to their own? writing this anonymous propaganda, of Icelandic Women to discuss when she said that the location industry” when he recently published how much has it cost the nation women and the law. Highlights of the dam is a volcanically active a very neutral book showcasing the No one is allowed to defend and what politicians are responsible of her keynote speech shown on area.” Star.is had earlier written pros and cons of the Kárahnjúkar themselves, but everything connected for this pathetic development? The RUV News focused on house work about Guðmundurs´ course on the dam. Steinunn Sigurðardóttir, a to the dam and large scale industries president of Alcoa said that there and domestic matters. “I literally vegetation north of Vatnajökull, held novelist, is said to have “presented is shown in a positive and almost will “always be people who oppose had to force Tony to take a week’s at Endurmenntunarstofnun Háskóla a skewed view” on television while religious light. “I only meet smiling progress.” If star.is is the method paternity leave and I can´t remem- Íslands (Continuing Education of María Ellingsen is an international people,” says Smári Geirsson, an to drive progress through, then the ber when I last saw him wash up,” the University of Iceland) using the actress who is said to have lied on a East Icelander and very pro-dam. price is not only Icelandic nature but she declared to eager reporters. words: “Endurmenntunarstofnun local radio station. While the rangers at Drekagil flew democracy itself. HÍ in a propaganda war against the Icelandic flag half-mast, “most Coalition of the Willing - part deux “A handful of men imposing their destructive dream...?” by Anonymous

I am a man. I am one of the handful...well, if you can call a thousand men a handful, which I guess it is, in the grand scheme of things. But am I a bad man? I am guilty. That much is true. business or management or finance. stones are for? You know, the ones in one of those fancy metal cups. I work at Kárahnjúkar. I chose But I know what I do. I can show you see on the hill. Are they there Perhaps I will even have a new Foreign Minister Halldór Ás- to come here. I didn´t have to. I you what I do. I build tunnels. to mark out the way for travelers? A laptop on my table. I want all of that grímsson announced his creation volunteered to help build the dam welcome beacon for someone lost in and I want the sky to be blue and the of a coaltion of allies to join so I suppose I am guilty, in my own I can´t tell you if what I build is the fog? Or are they just some sort air to be clean. In other words I want Iceland´s forthcoming invasion small way, for whatever it brings. good or bad. I mean, this is not my of monument? An edifice to some a lake, to make clean electricity, to of Svalberg. So far both the UK But does that make me a bad man? country. They aren´t my hills that proud man; a man who wanted to make shiny metal. Just like people and the US have declined their will be stranded as islands. It´s not make his mark on the world? before me here, like a traveler on the support. Tensions have been I am proud of what I do. I mean I my grass that will be drowned. All I hill adding a stone to the cairn, like mounting over fishing rights in build things...in my own small way. know is that, so to speak, I put one I am a man. I know what I want. a sheep farmer adding another sod the area and shuttle diplomacy has At the end of each day I can show stone on top of another. At the end I am tired. I want to sleep. It was of turf to his house, I want to build a not worked. Iceland´s forces in Af- you what I have done. I have created of each day I have made a little tower a long day underground. I dream. better future. ghanistan have been put on Arctic something. A lot of people these of black stones. I have changed my I want to buy a house in the sun. warfare alert, and a full draft may days do fancy stuff, working in environment...but hopefully there I want to watch my children run That is my destructive dream ... but be unavoidable. offices, being busy. I don´t know is some benefit for others. Do you laughing in the garden, while I sit does that make me a bad man? what they do, stuff to do with know what those little towers of at a table...maybe with an espresso JÓNSSON & LE´MACKS 1181 8 OUT OF BALANCE: Sex and Drug Offenses in Iceland �� by Paul Fontaine-Nikolov �������

Icelanders in favour of EU Iceland’s rate of drug intake is low compared to the rest of Eu- rope.rope. Since 2001, only 23 smugsmugglersglers hahaveve been ararrestedrested ttryingrying ttoo bringbring drdrugsugs into the countcountry.ry. DespitDespitee this, IceIcelandland spent 180 mil- lion krónur (about 2.5 million USD) in 2002 to fight the influxinflux of contcontrolledrolled substsubstances,ances, with the rresultesult being a ststeadyeady decline in arrests.arrests. Being sentsentencedenced to pay a fine is rrareare in a smugsmugglinggling ccase;ase; almost all those convictedconvicted seserverve jail timetime,, the maximum sentsentenceence being tenten yyears.ears. ItIt’s’s worworthth mentioning that IceIcelandiclandic lalaww makemakess A recent poll has shown that no distinction betweenbetween one drdrugug or anotheanotherr - sentsentencesences araree bbasedased around 2/3 of the population on the weight of the substance seized. wish to enter into negotiations regarding membership of the EU. that a sex offenseoffense ccasease wowon’tn’t rresultesult in This is roughly the same result as a convictionconviction and ccanan rrefuseefuse to take it in recent years. The results are not For this reason, it could be argued money the Icelandic government rape or child sexual abuse. There to trial - a right most lawyers in the expected to influence government that an intrepid drug dealer would has spent trying to prevent rape is something very wrong with a world have. But what is disturbing policy, which remains set against come to the conclusion that since he and child sexual abuse. While the legislative and judicial system which is that once a prosecutor has rejected membership. faces the same sentence for a kilo of sentence for rape in Iceland is one punishes more harshly crimes of a case, the victim can never file the hash as he does for a kilo of cocaine, to sixteen years, the Icelandic Penal non-violent consent than it does suit again with another prosecutor. Cheap energy for sale he might as well have a go at trying Code reserves that punishment for crimes of violent sexual force. In It wasn´t until 1999 that a victim to smuggle in the more profitable rapes of threat or force alone. Rapes an effort to try to understand why even had the right to have a lawyer (and more deadly) substance. In of coersion and child sexual abuse the system is set up in this way, I present as council at all times, such effect, this kind of sentencing carry a sentence of only zero to six talked to the people who fight in as during police questioning. Even actually encourages drug dealers to years. The vast majority of the time, the trenches of the legal system: the if a prosecutor does take on a case, bring more dangerous substances however, the sentence will be a fine lawyers. it’s ultimately the police who decide into the country. Despite this, due - log onto the Iceland Supreme whether or not the prosecution to stiff sentencing and government Court website and one can see fines Adding insult to injury can have access to the accused´s funding, the drug supply seems to be of a few hundred thousand krónur Herdís Hjálmarsdóttir is a criminal file and how much of it the dwindling. meted out to people who have prosecutor with years of experience prosecution may see. Conversely, been convicted of sexually abusing in drugs and sex crimes: “In my defense has unlimited access to Are drugs worse than rape? children. experience,” she said, “of all the any and all information regarding Compare this to sex crimes in rapes which are even reported to the victim. Even if after all this a Iceland: reported rapes in Iceland Drugs, while certainly damaging to the police, I’d say only about 25% conviction is reached, not only does are well ahead of every other Nordic both mind and body, are nonetheless actually make it into court. Of those, the accused almost always end up country – between 300 and 400 bought and sold on a foundation of only half end in a conviction.” just paying a fine, but insult is added Major industrial companies Rio women visit rape trauma centers supply and demand - consent is the to injury in that victims must pay out Tinto Zinc, BHP Billiton, Russal in Iceland each year. Yet there are essense of the drug trade. There is, According to Icelandic law, a of their own pocket for any therapy and governmental favourite Alcoa no figures available on how much of course, no consent involved in prosecutor has the right to decide they might require as a result of are all set to visit the country in their trauma, unless the victim is a the autumn to review the oppor- child. Yet even in the case of a child, tunity of creating an aluminium state funded therapy is temporary, smelter in the North of the coun- and there is no follow-up done to try. Their reason for being here? see how the child is adjusting to Cheap government subsidised adulthood. electricity and minimal enforce- ment of environmental regulations.

Mandatory jail time? “I personally don’t think longer Trust busters sentences are the answer,” Herdís The minister of industry and com- adds, “but I would like to see heavier merce has suggested instituting fines. In all fairness, Iceland does anti-cartel laws in Iceland. Expect have the harshest sentencing for sex a dirtfight with the free press say- offenses in Scandinavia.” ing this goes against fundamental human rights and the Indepen- Katrín Anna Guðmundsdóttir, from dence party press insisting the the Feminist Association of Iceland, future of the country is at stake. expresses similar concerns. “One of Whatever the outcome, expect a the biggest problems for me is the lot of insults and few real changes. lack of sentences,” she says. “When rapists and child molesters walk away with a fine, it sends a message But what to they think of the to victims that the courts won’t hot dogs? protect them. We need to lengthen The sentencing for sex offenses.” King and This may explain why only ten percent of the victims of rape and sexual abuse who got to Stígamót, a rape crisis centre in Reykjavík, will end up reporting the crime to the police. Other factors, Katrín says, would be the prejudice that many rape victims feel is directed towards them should the case not end in a conviction, as well as the fact that most victims know their attackers personally, which makes it extremely Queen of Sweden are set do begin ������������������� intimidating to take them to court. their visit to Iceland on the 9th. The state is simply not doing They said in a recent interview enough. Mandatory jail time for that Iceland and Sweden are conviction of a sex offense is not unified by the Icelandic language. unusual in the world, nor is state- Iceland´s own royalty, Dorrit funded therapy and follow up for visited the aluminium smelter at ����� victims, as well as state funded sex Straumsvík to pay homage to its offense education. Iceland can and woman in charge Rannveig. But �������������� after Clinton, who cares? ������������������ should set an example with such ������������������������ �������������� measures not only for the rest of Europe, but for her own people.

10 WONDERINGS Iceland´s foreign wars

Iceland vs. Ireland 9th-10th Centuries The first battles fought on Icelandic soil where probably those fought by Norwegian Vikings and unarmed Irish monks who had settled here before the Vikings first arrived. The Vikings won a resounding victory. The biggest Icelandic-Irish engagement took place on the Westman Islands, where national hero Ingólfur Árnason massacred his blood brothers slaves. Most of the war was, however, fought on Irish soil, the Irish pitting more defenceless monks against the Viking hordes. The war came to an end in the early 11th Century: according to Icelandic historians, when Icelanders became Christian and gave up attacking monks; according to Irish historians, when the Vikings were defeated by Brian Boru at the battle of Clontarf in 1014.

Iceland vs. AMERICA

Early 11th Century Leif Ericsson led an expedition to America around the year 1000, but this did not incur hostilities as he did not come upon any inhabitants. Soon after Þorfinnur led a party west comprising between 65 and 160 persons, and came upon natives whom they immediately took to killing. One of the natives got a hold of a Viking axe and hit a friend with it. When he saw the effect it had, he threw the axe into the sea. Many of the natives were slaughtered, but the Icelanders were not as resilient as the Frenchmen, Englishmen and Spaniards that came later - they got bored of the killing of Native Americans and left.

Iceland vs. NORWAY 1262 Icelanders were at this time too busy killing each other to have much interest in killing Norwegians. The king of Nor- way hence became king of Iceland unopposed, and was to remain so until the crown passed to the Queen of Denmark in 1397. It now seems likely that there will be a resumption of hostilities over fishing rights in the Svalbard area.

Iceland vs. DENMARK 1550-51 Having been subservient to the king for almost 300 years, there was suddenly an uprising in 1550 when the Danes tried to introduce Lutheranism. The Catholic bishop was arrested on orders of the King, but his loyal Icelandic Lutherans decided that ‘incarceration’ means ‘in the ground’, and behead him. The bishops daughter ordered revenge, and the King’s local followers, as well as every Dane in the country (about 14 of them), are tracked down and killed. After which the king silently reimposed his own authority, as well as Lutheranism.

Iceland vs. TURKEY 1627 A somewhat mistitled affair, as the Turks in question were actually from Algeria and Morocco, probably led by a Dutch- man. One of the ships attacked Grindavík and captured 15 Icelanders and a few Danes, as well as a Danish merchant ship. Shots were exchanged with the fortress at Bessastaðir and the Turkish ship was stranded, but they made away on the merchant vessel with their prize. Two ships attacked the east fjords, capturing 110 Icelanders and killing nine. They then, along with a third ship, attacked the Westman Islands, burned the houses, killed 40 people and captured another 242. Twenty-seven of these were bought back and returned 10 years later. For centuries afterwards it was legal to kill any Turk upon these shores.

Iceland vs. JÖRGEN JÖRGENSEN 1809 Jörgen was a Danish adventurer sponsored by an English soap manufacturer to find materials here for soap making. They arrived here onboard a British naval vessel, but the Danish overlord Trampe refused the Englishmen trading rights on the grounds that Denmark was at war with Britain. Trampe was arrested without furter ado, hence putting, for the time being, an end to Danish rule in Iceland. Jörgen proclaimed himself Protector of Iceland, gave the country a constitution and promised lower taxes. Another British vessel arrived a hundred days later, and when the captain found out what had happened he deposed Jörgen and took him back to England. Danish rule was quietly reinstituted.

Iceland vs. THE BRITISH EMPIRE 1940-1976 World War II was fought between Iceland and Britain on the morning of May 10th 1940. Britain invaded and occupied the country amidst the protests of a drunk poet by the harbour and the door of the phone company was broken down, but compensation was later paid. A five year Anglo-American occupation followed, with the Americans at the time of writing still in control of Miðnesheiði close to Keflavík. A more bloody Anglo-Icelandic clash took place in the years 1958-1976 over cod, resulting in several British frigates being damaged. The “Cod War” ended with full victory for Iceland.

Iceland vs. AFGHANISTAN Following Bush´s lead, Davíð Oddsson seemed intent on becoming known as the “War Prime Minister.” He promptly declared war on both Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. As Iceland has no army, he sent the first contingent of civil- ians to Kabul, where they wear uniforms, carry guns and guard an airport.

POLITICS by Valur Gunnarsson WHERE WILL THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY GO FROM HERE? Experience On September 15th, a new Prime Minister will take office in Iceland. This will not be a result of the new election, however. Then why are we changing Prime Ministers? It seems to be the result of an in- up close side deal. Samfylkingin apparently offered Halldór Ásgrímsson, head of the Progressive Party, the Prime Ministership in a coalition government after the 2003 election. the adventure of whale watching Halldór had then been Prime Its core has always been big business: The other possibility is more Take part in an adventure at sea with an unforgettable trip Minister in Davíð Oddsson’s Eimskip shipping company and interesting. What if the party has into the world of whales and sea birds. Aboard the Elding I, government for eight years, and Icelandair, the two companies that lost its ties to the money men you have a fantastic 360-degree panoramic view, plus a seems to have been loath to change controlled access to and from the forever? What if the new króna spectacular view into the deep blue sea. Located in Reykjavík´s partners. Oddsson, who still had country being the backbone, a billionaires opt for Samfylkingin old harbour, only a 20-minute journey can bring you up the largest number of votes, had to conglomerate known as the Octopus. instead, as they have been doing? close to whales in their natural habitat. outbid his rivals, as the Progressive Now the Octopus has been broken The Independence Party was the Party were the only feasible up, and the major financial power party that upheld the old family Call us now partners. However, after 12 years players, Björgúlfur of Landsbankinn monopolies over the economy. Now of Premiership he could not look and Jón Ásgeir of Bónus, do not that new families have moved in, it 555 3565 as if he had lost the election. So form part of the old ruling elite. may become the very party to go in or visit they came up with a compromise Jón Ásgeir does not belong to the for breaking monopolies up. They´ve www.elding.is solution where Oddsson retained Independence Party and seems more already tried, and failed, to impose a his chair for a year, before allowing disposed towards Samfylkingin. media law. Who knows what’s next? Daily departures from Reykjavík Halldór to take his turn. This has So what does the party do when it Perhaps they’ll set laws in motion led to a general cabinet reshuffling, not longer represents big business? that allow us to see who is funding April May June July Aug Sept Oct which seemed to move Oddsson into Two courses of action seem open. what party. When they had money 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 foreign affairs, and has left minister It might, as it has done in the past, on their side, they had no interest in 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:00 of the environment Siv Friðleifsdóttir incorporate the nouveau riche into that, but now that this has changed, 17:00 17:00 17:00 out in the cold, angering the party´s its ranks. But the animosity between so may their policy. The party might female constituents. What any of this it and them seems too deeply rooted then be forced to become what they MIXA has to do with democracy is anyone´s to go away anytime soon, although always said they were, the party of • fít fít guess. But another question is: where there´s nothing as likely to bring the people. Wouldn´t that be ironic? • 01464 does the Independence Party go old adversaries together as hope of from here? financial gain.

Elding Whale Watching Reykjavík, Iceland • Tel: (+354) 555 3565 Fax: (+354) 554 7420 • [email protected] H.S. Davíð Oddsson: Life imitates satire Davíð Oddsson started his career as career down this route. Instead, he media. In the early 90´s, all party a man of the people. He was the first got an even closer look at how Ice- affiliated newspapers apart from student at his secondary school to be landic politics worked as parliament Morgunblaðið, which for a while elected Inspector Scholae, or student correspondent for Morgunblaðið. It reigned supreme, had folded. Ten representative, who was not the son has been surmised that in observing years later, two out of three daily of a leading politician. At the same politicians at work, he decided he newspapers and virtually all non- time, he also starred in Alfred Jarry´s could do better. He fought his way state run TV and radio stations had play Ubu Roy, as the corrupt king to become candidate for Mayor for been merged into a single conglom- of the title. The play became a huge the Independence Party, the son of erate, Northern Lights, owned by success, toured the country and was a single mother from Selfoss often the owner of a supermarket chain even shown on national television. outmanoeuvring far better connec- and one of the newly rich. When Oddsson graduated from toins and more established politi- Meanwhile, Davíð Oddsson still secondary school in 1970, two years cians. After a ten year stint as mayor, reigned supreme in the Independ- after the people who had started he finally became Prime Minister. ence Party, having surrounded him- there with him, he seemed torn be- When he took office, the Octopus self with what seemed like a group of

r tween the two possible directions his was at the peak of its powers. Rival yes-men. His last act of office was to egu sv fn ko life could take, art or politics. For a conglomerate Sambandið, sometimes push through a media bill that would al K while he considered studying drama called the Squid, had been broken have restricted media ownership and

Arnar- in Japan. As it turned out, he married up. It was deemed safe to open up broken up Northern Lights. This Lækjar- hóll torg Hverfisgata Ingólfsstræti his high school sweetheart and stud- the economy and privatise state was only halted by the first presiden- Bankastræti ied law at the University of Iceland, industry, assuming that the interests tial intervention in the history of the Lækjargata meanwhile working at the Reykjavík Davíð Oddsson was watchdog for Republic. Hence Davíð Oddsson, City Theatre office. Along with two could snap them up at their leisure. who, with a combination of skill and other school friends, director Hrafn But the Octopus was slow and lazy, charm, fought his way to the top of Gunnlaugsson and writer Þórarinn and the new money men, some Icelandic society, is abandoning the Eldjárn, he started the popular radio of whom had made their fortune field in the hand of his enemies. Or, program Útvarp Matthildur, which abroad, snapped up the newly as Ubu Roy would say, “Merde!” engaged in frequent political satire. nationalised industries. Nowhere Davíð could well have continued his was this more apparent than in the COLUMN 13 “EXCUSE ME, DID I JUST HEAR YOU SAY WICIOUS?” by Marcie Hume

It’s one of the nation’s great mysteries, but not one that Ice- landers are keen on investigating. Sometimes they find it insulting, but mostly they just don’t get what’s so funny. It’s the old switcheroo, the tendency of Icelanders to replace the ‘v’ in any English word with a ‘w’ sound. Many argue that the common phonetic mishap doesn’t matter one bit. They can’t hear the difference, and anyway, no meaning is lost through this small alteration. I’ve tried to explain why this sub- stitution is funny, noting that it gives the speaker a very special sound that just happens to be comical to the American ear. But I’m actually not certain what it is; all I know is that for native English speakers, the first time they hear an Icelander make the v-to-w substitution, there is no going back. I hear it everyday: awailable, wolleyball, wericose weins, and of course, the old favourite, wery. The latter is incredibly common and has now become part of my English- speaking life. Although there is sometimes a mutual switch in a v-for-a-w way (“How is the veather today?”), the ‘w’ replacement is by H.S. far the favourite. To try to be fair, foreigners are Actually, no Icelander really cares the sake of humour, should not be word “wenus” been awoided until amusement. If there’s another native not without their common and (I when things like that happen. It’s ignored. I recently stayed in Borgar- now? It’s headed for the W Hall of English speaker around, even better. guess) uproarious mistakes. Has any not that funny to them, which is nes, opting to spend an evening at Fame. Sure it sounds faintly wicked and, foreigner out there ever done the why it seems even worse to laugh Motel Venus. This one was unbeat- Sometimes I just slip the ‘w’ in okay, not that exciting as far as prac- good ol’ double-L sound where it when an Icelanders tells you that, for able as far as bang-for-your-buck for entertainment value. I can’t tical jokes go. But foreigners need was not needed, like in gallabuxur example, it’s wery nice to see you. action with the w-switch. I mean, stop. And I’ve been told time and some way to entertain themselves at (jeans)? The conversation is brought But there are times when the we’ve got the word weiner, and we’ve time again that no one will notice, parties where everyone is speaking to its knees. magic ‘w’ simply cannot and, for got the word penis…how has the which makes it the perfect harmless that crazy island language.

Iceland has no army. But Icelanders are carrying arms in Afghanistan.

“Are you going to call the documentary ‘The Secret Army’?” One of the guys said jokingly as he and the other Icelanders switched from pistols to machine guns at the shooting range in the Afghan desert just outside Kabul. “That’s a thought,” I replied as my partner in the project, Friðrik Guðmundsson, continued to film the men in fatigues with the Icelandic flag on the shoulder load their weapons and gush bullets at the targets. The explosive sounds echoed in the hills above. Below us a young herdsmen passed by with his goats. Neither he nor the goats seemed disturbed by the shots being fired. They´ve heard it before. He probably vaguely remembers the Soviet invasion a quarter of a century ago, the civil war that followed, the terrible Taliban era and then the American invasion. All that time Kabul and the neighbourhood was a battlefield and to add to the horrible situation, a drought has plagued this country for the last four to five years....

by Kristinn Hrafnsson

photos : Helgi Finnbogason this page : Silja Magg “We are not soldiers” Inhaling excrement from the Turks on each side. arms. Luckily for the warlords opium growth “We are really scoring points by controlling has surged in the last two years since the end of The Icelandic “soldiers” are representatives of We drive to Camp KAIA and by the side of this project,” the commander tells me after- Taliban rule, and it is estimated that now 80% one of the richest countries in the world who the road children jump back and forth over wards. “For decades Iceland has stood on the of the world’s heroin has its origin in Afghani- suddenly find themselves in a country that’s the open sewage. “No wonder this country has sideline in NATO as a poor receiver but now stan. The warlords, get their cut, profiting from in the running for the seat at the bottom. The the highest infant mortality in the world,” I we are drawing respect in the family of nations Western misery. But Commander Halli and guys are part of a fifteen men team sent by the think as I try too suppress information I had within NATO. I strongly believe NATO is others at KAIA Camp believe they are doing a Icelandic Crisis Response Unit to Afghanistan just received. Airborne germs from the sewage badly in need of a transformation and I believe positive reconstructive job in this country. to serve in Garrison KAIA (Kabul Airport) make it certain that every time you inhale you Iceland can play a critical role in this transfor- “Every Afghan tells me that if we [NATO] where NATO has pledged to safeguard and re- are breathing in the remains of another man’s mation.” leave this country an all out civil war would build this important link to the outside world. excrement. “If you get a small scratch here it Commander Halli is a man uniforms love. One brake out instantly again”, the Commander The Icelandic men perform civilian duties won´t heal”, the men tell me, “You have to get wonders how he was transformed into a high tells me in his HQ at KAIA. “People in Iceland at the airport; they are air-traffic controllers, medicine instantly or things can become pretty ranking military commander in a NATO army. don’t realize that we have a role here in helping firemen, engineers and handymen but they are bad.” I vaguely remember him from a few years ago to rebuild this country – a contribution that is all part of the nearly 2,000 multinational forces Unfortunately this is not an option for most when he was one of the leaders in the Gra- appreciated by most Afghans.” stationed at KAIA Garrison. of the 24-25 million Afghans living in the farvogur suburban reform committee. He was When I mention the criticism by some “We are not soldiers,” says Master Sergeant country. Death looms around the corner due then an air traffic controller in Reykjavík, living people in Iceland that an Icelandic army has Gíslason, and Major Ævarsson agrees. “The to causes that would hardly call for a visit to a in the suburbs, fighting the city to improve the been almost secretly formed in Afghanistan, only military training we had is the three weeks clinic if you where living in Reykjavík. traffic into Grafarvogur and other important Commander Halli becomes outspoken. “It is in Norway before we came. But as we have to We enter KAIA through the heavily guarded suburban projects. Soon after he lead the almost intolerable that some Icelanders, even bear light arms constantly and be prepared to gate; the men have to test the firing mecha- Icelandic effort to rebuild and hand over to MPs standing in the Althingi podium, should use the machine guns, we better know how nisms to prove that they are empty before civilian control the airport in Pristina, Kosovo, speak such nonsense. They are speaking out to handle these weapons,” Master Sergeant storing the bullets in a separate place. Driving and from there he was sent to Afghanistan to of total ignorance. One should expect that Finnbogason tells me in order to explain that to the main building the first thing one notices become the Commander of Kabul Airport. people who criticise this project do it based on the day at the shooting range was not mere fun. is the Icelandic flag flying first in a row of the knowledge and not ignorance.” Halli pats the Soldiers or not, the Icelanders are working flags of all the nations that have sent troops to Shovelling the shit pistol strapped to his thigh. “We are bearing side by side and often outranking professional this NATO project. Garrison KAIA is under arms here in Kabul but it is for the reasons of soldiers from the multinational force at Garri- Icelandic command and at the helm is Hallgrí- Commander Halli frequently meets President security. One has to dress for the occasion, you son KAIA, which is complied from 24 NATO mur Sigurðsson, who everybody knows by the Karzai and other senior officials in the Afghan see,” he adds. “If you have to go to the barn to countries. name Commander Halli. government, that has yet to prove its legitimacy shovel the shit you don’t put on dance shoes The Icelandic team drives back into Kabul, in the forthcoming election in October. The and take a fancy walking stick in hand – you passing hundreds of Russian tanks left behind The Commander elections have electrified the tension in the grab the shovel after you have put on your in the retreat that some claim was the begin- country and many NGOs have condemned the Wellingtons. It’s as simply as that.” ning of the end for the Soviet empire. We turn “Attention!” the Belgian second in command election being pushed forth when Afghani- onto road Violet which is the military term for shouts to the line up in front of camp Kaia´s stan has no central authority. Everyone knows Sir or Óli? Jallabad road. main building as Commander Halli steps Karzai (sometimes snubbed as the Major of “Its on this road that most westerners have lost onto the ramp in easy steps. The soldiers from Kabul) only has power in the country because Outside the HQ soldiers in different types of their lives recently,” I’m informed, “But more Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Slovakia, Iceland, the Americans want him to be the ruler. Most uniforms walk past and I have become accus- than 90% of the population here are all for our Turkey and other nations stand to attention Kabulians seem to want him to stay on for the tomed to trying to make out the flags on the presence,” he adds to make me feel better. We to greet the commander. Commander Halli simple reason that they are desperate for peace shoulders to see where they are from. I have pass the Norwegian Garrison as a reminder walks the line and hands out medals ever to after decades of conflict. But Kabulians are no sense of rank markings and the Icelanders that small nations can lose men in this battle- those who are heading home after three month only a fraction of the whole population. By es- tell me they are fairly relaxed when it comes zone. In late May a Norwegian soldier lost his missions, both medals from NATO and the timates, between two and three million people to respecting rank. “We sometimes forget that life in Kabul, and the first thing the Iceland- first medals handed out by The Icelandic Crisis live in Kabul. Nine out of ten live in the rural everything has to go through the right chain ers had to do when arriving there in early Response Unit. The Icelandic men proudly areas, many of them controlled by warlords of command,” major Ævarsson tells me, “We June, was to stand at the airport to honour the receive their medals, the Kabul sun shining such as Ismail Khan and the Uzbek Dostum do not have the same background of military Norwegian who was being flown back to his on the polished gold Icelandic crest pinned to whom everybody knows cannot read and write culture as other countries.” “I tried in vain to homeland in a coffin. “It was dreadful,” they the blue Icelandic berets. Behind them sits a (although it isn’t mentioned publicly), but most get my men to call me Óli, but they insisted tell me, “We had just arrived and this was a Hercules propeller plane, an Apache helicopter of the nation is illiterate anyway and Afghans on sticking to ‘Sir,’ Major Ólafsson, a 27 year reminder that the situation is far from safe in from the Dutch air force and a Black Hawk have learned that the measure of power is fire- old Political Science student at the University the city.” power and the number of men you have under of Iceland, tells me. He is in charge of 130 people at Garrison KAIA. “They are soldiers Halli The Bulldozer Icelandic contribution. Back at Garrison KAIA Bunker Party and explained to me that it is not right for our I observe Halli’s addition to the garrison’s relationship to become too relaxed. In their Not much is. Mostly small houses or huts built emblem, his encircled slogan “There are no The stillness of the night is broken by the eyes I might be the person to demand that they out of mud bricks. The Palace has been shot problems – just solutions.” Halli impatiently alarming sounds ordering everybody to get out confront enemy fire to take that hill. So I let to pieces and is barely standing. Commander wants improvements quickly but things can of bed, put on their protective gear and head them call me ‘Sir,’ Ólafsson adds. Halli looks over the city. “We are doing a much be painfully slow to improve. “It will take two to the bunker arms in hand. A rocket has been Commander Halli walks towards us but has appreciated job here, but it will take a long years to totally de-mine just the airport area,” fired at KAIA. The men call it a bunker party to stop and greet the Major of the Turkish time until we see considerable improvements Halli tells me and adds the latest figures from – it’s the fourth this summer. Nobody has been Blackhawk helicopter unit stationed at KAIA. in Afghanistan. But we Icelanders have a lot to that project, “a little over a thousand mines injured and only one of the rockets has actually “A great guy, “ Halli tells me, “the most experi- offer, not least the Icelandic mentality to just found so far with only a portion of the place exploded within the airport area. “The terror- enced helicopter pilot Turkey has. Over 6,000 go and do the job.” I had just recently heard de-mined.” The land mine infestation of the ists are badly equipped so they have a problem hours flown – he has had men on his helicopter that when Halli was in Kosovo he had been country is the worst in the world, apparent aiming these rockets,” I’m told. Commander killed in battle and has stepped unharmed out called “The Bulldozer.” Halli is a man who from the many people with arms and legs miss- Halli tells me that the danger should neither of his helicopter with five bullets in the protec- wants things to move quickly and admits that ing on the streets of Kabul. Many of them are be over nor under-estimated. “But I have to say tion in his back seat.” A few days later we fly a considerable part of his job is about cutting beggars since they can’t work. “Two weeks ago that I feel pretty safe here at KAIA – at least with the Turkish Major on a patrolling flight through red tape within the military establish- an Afghan worker took a shortcut through the safer then I would feel in downtown Reykjavik over Kabul. The doors are open and on each ment and dealing with the local authorities. airport area and was blown up,” I’m told. “It late Saturday night.” side the heavy guns are manned by the Turks. Halli has gotten quite experienced in pushing took hours to get to him as we had to de-mine The day after we leave Afghanistan, 17 people We fly over the city that has been shelled so of- his agenda through, as one observes sitting a path towards him. He died in a hospital cou- are killed in an explosion in downtown Kabul. ten and for so long, one wonders why anything in on meetings he has with men like Foreign ple of days later.” At KAIA you don’t wander With elections coming up in a month it is is left. minister Abdullah and other ministers in the away from the marked safe path. certain that things will heat up quite a bit in Afghan government. Everybody praises Halli this country of constant sorrow. enthusiastically for his command and the

There´s something ples that have underpinned foreign policy since ports the Icelanders who are currently working “They have no right to take our about Steingrímur J. Independence. “It is politically motivated and in Kabul. “I am of course worried for them. It name and use it like this.” Sigfússon, leader of very sad to see how the present government has, hasn´t been thought out. They carry weapons, but the opposition. that in steps and without a true mandate from the what are the rules for their using them? They are Interview by Robert Jackson. reminds you of Van Gogh´s self portrait. He has a electorate, taken Iceland away from its traditional civilians, but they are wearing military uniforms lean, intense face with pale eyes that reside above position. I sit on the foreign affairs committee; we and working in a warzone. What happens if a stubbled chin. When we meet at his parliamen- only found our about our joining ´The Coalition something goes wrong, is their insurance still tary office, he needs little prompting to launch of the Willing’ through foreign media coverage of valid? Will they be treated as civilians? I ask these into the government for their taking the country the Bush-Blair summit in the Azores. We weren´t questions to the Foreign Minister and the replies away from a centuries old tradition of pacifism. consulted.” I get are vague and evasive.” “It makes me terribly uncomfortable to see what The major protagonists in the Iraq war have Steingrímur has been on the political scene here we have signed up for. It is part of a bigger picture held lengthy enquiries into the circumstances long enough to know that little is going to change that involves Iceland not only in Afghanistan but surrounding their going to war but it hasn´t with Davíð and Halldór reversing roles next week also in support of the war in Iraq. At home we happened here. “I´ve been pushing for one, but but he senses, probably correctly, that there is a are now doubling the size of the Viking Squad, so far the reaction has been ‘it´s in the past so growing unease about where this is all taking the our customs officers are armed and the Minister what does it matter?´ But I will be putting it in country. of Justice is proposing ideas about an Icelandic the the agenda in the next session. We really do Sending the Crisis Response Unit to Kabul was military. Put all the pieces together and you get need to know how we have got to the stage where the right thing to do, not only with regard to Ice- the picture that Iceland is no longer a nation of two people, Davíð and Halldór, can act bilater- lands membership of NATO, but also its further peace without an army; instead we are a coun- ally without consulting even their own parties, let promotion as a world player and its need to be try prepared to support war efforts. And it is alone the people, through their elected parlia- seen at this sensitive time as willing supporters wrong. None of this effort and the money it costs ment. They have no right to take our Icelandic of American foreign policy. There are real issues, improves Icelandic society nor makes it a better name and reputation and use it like this. We need though, about the way it has all been handled, place to live.” a full enquiry.” issues that won´t go way and that may levy a Steingrímur has been a vociferous opponent of Steingrímur is at pains to point out that despite politial price in the future. what he sees as a radical change in the princi- his opposition to them being there, he sup- COLUMN

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WHALING by Haukur Már Helgason

People have contacted me asking about the art of domestic whaling, and so I’ve decided to set up a small Q&A column, answering at least the most frequently repeated questions.

1. Is whaling a dangerous sport? 3. Are there female whalers? First of all, whaling is not a sport. It is an art. Like Potentially, yes. martial arts, its essence is emancipation, the liberation of man from him/herself. Of course it involves danger. 4. Is there a society of whalers? Life is dangerous, whales are big. But those who conduct No, nor can there be. A whaler is a man (or woman) it wisely are likely to outlast their first whale. Once you alone. Two whalers do not meet, they have encounters. have mastered the art of whaling, you do not forget it, much like cycling. Having said that, even the most 5. What exactly is the procedure of whaling (with experienced whale-hunters may fall prey to laziness, the above-mentioned equipment)? weariness or habit. No two whales are the same. Row. Halt. Lure the whale to you with song and bate. Carress it. Get a line around its tail or other protrusive parts. Stab it with the sword. It will not die from the 2. Don’t you need a big boat for whaling? first wound, it will go berserk. Hold on to your boat. No! That’s precisely what domestic whaling is all about, Whatever happens, hold on to your boat and the whale emancipatory whaling. There is nothing in common gets tired and hopefully it looses energy as it bleeds. between those ignorant industrial beasts that do their When it thus calms down, approach it yet again (or, more whaling on large ships producing any other factory-like gracefully, get it to approach you), carress it and stab it. commodity, alienated from their work, alienated from Repeat as needed. Under all normal circumstances, but themselves, alinated from life and alienated from the dependent on the size and age of the whale, it will die whale, on the one hand, and private whaling on the within 12 hours from its first wound. Drag the whale other. The fact that both are called by the same name, to shore (no, whales do not sink upon their death, they whaling, is merely an obscure contingency. float). A domestic whaler may or may not use a boat. There are advanced whalers that swim to meet their prey. Needless 6. What are the origins of Emancipatory Whaling? to say, this is not recommended for beginners. But no Are there any historical relations to Rodeo or that real whaler goes with a boat any bigger than 12 feet, nor Spanish sport with the bulls? does he use engines to drive his or her boat. What is Emancipatory Whaling originates in the ancient needed is: wisdom of the Icelandic Eddas. They have only recently 1. Knowledge of the whale-schools’ mating spots. been revived by Meistari Þórbergur Þórðarson, who 2. Skills in reproducing their affectionate songs. did his whaling naked without a boat in the mid 20th (Notice, the first two points in the list have to century, reaching perfection in grace and technique and, do with knowledge and know-how. This is no needless to say, absolute emancipation. Until the late 90s, coincidence. The most important aspects of Icelanders conducted their whaling privately and secretly. whaling do lie within you, not ‘out there.’) Now, as the art spreads around the world like fire in dry 3. A small row-boat. grass, timidity is needed no more; we openly celebrate 4. A tow, capable of holding 2-20 tons, depending and participate in this highest of spiritual arts, and we on species (and the whaler’s capabilities). At least invite all humanity to partake in it. There are no known 200m -- remember, you do not want to go under historical relations to other activities that nonetheless with the whale. have surface similarities. Bulls are considerably smaller 5. A bate: fish, fish intestines or a smaller whale than animals than whales. the one to be hunted. 6. A sword. 7. Whales are not fish, are they? Some whalers have been known to take a radio or a No, but they admittedly have surface similarities to fish. mobile phone with them, in case of emergency, as well as Whales are among the most intelligent and most gracious other such equipment: a whistle, life vests etc. I cannot mammals on earth, some say even more intelligent than but understand this in the case of beginners and novices, people. There lies the dignity integrated in our art. but do keep in mind that any such precautions hold back your advancement and will sooner or later have to be dismissed. 19 ������������������ �� ����������������������

Mugi Goes to the Movies

by Jonas Moody

The six degrees of Mugison Niceland is the story of a retarded young woman who loses her purpose in life and her retarded boyfriend who sets out to find it again for her. Mugison is a the story of a musically- inclined young man from the mountains of Ísafjörður who was fortuitously asked to score the soundtrack for Friðrik Þór’s newest film, Niceland. ...cont. on page 22 H.S. 20 GUIDE TO THE CITY CENTER This pullout has all the information one might need, so for a safer journey, pull it out and put it in your pocket. CAFE´S 4. Café Roma this is the right place to see another side of Reykjavík. BARS & BISTRO ing it was cheaper than buying drinks all the time. Another owner is wander in here for a game, as every table doubles as a chess board. One RESTAURANTS FAST FOOD Laugavegur 118 the director of the film 101 Reykjavík, and the bar figures prominently of the best places to meet locals for a chat, every night of the week. Is the closest thing you’ll find to a New York deli in town. A lively 8. Tíu Dropar in the film. 1. Segafredo cross-section of artists, students and office workers enjoy home baked 11. Sólon 31. Pasta Basta 41. Nonnabiti By Lækjartorg Laugavegur 27 Bankastræti 7a 20. Bar 11 Klapparstíg 38 Hafnarstræti 11 pannini and great coffee all at low prices. With the exception of Mokka, Tíu Dropar is the oldest café in McDonalds has departed from the centre of Reykjavík and instead One size fits all is what this place is going for, and it’s usually a very 14. Sirkus Laugavegur 11 An affordable Italian place. The pasta is has generous portions and the The owner is a miser who charges additionally for everything, but downtown Reykjavik. The place has a very special feel to it, the decor, The rock hangout, be it live music or the riff-heavy jukebox. Many of Italian chain Segafredo has arrived, which isn’t a bad trade-off. You crowded pick up place. Somewhat expensive, and whether it´s because Klapparstígur 30 salad with grilled chicken is a good light option. The garden is nice, this is almost certainly the best junk food in the Greater Reykjavík the tables and the chairs, along with the service makes you feel very “Welcome to the Jungle/ We got fun and games,” quoth the poet. Iceland’s rock bands are regulars. Bands play and/or poetry is recited can smoke indoors, which gives you a nice continental feel, the staff 5. Mokka of this, an attempt at masculinity or just general despair, people have with a glass ceiling protecting punters from the wind and the rain. It area. The subs are great, none of that Subway commitment to healthy much at home. It’s almost like your sitting down for a cup of coffee in With tropical palm trees on the outside and tropical heat on the inside, most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, A good place to come is Italian and the prices are in Euros as well as krónur. Although Sega Skólavörðustígur 3a been known to jump from the second floor balcony. This is not recom- has paper covering the tables, and guests are supplied with crayons so living, and they probably contribute significantly to the ever-increasing your grandma’s kitchen. The menu is limited, but has the advantage of welcome to the party that never came to an end and doesn’t seem to be down on Sundays, with a screening of cult films. isn’t one of the more expensive places, you wonder whether knowing An Icelandic tradition since 1958, Mokka is the oldest café in Reykjavik mended, as a broken leg is most often the result, and the girls remain the can decorate their surroundings as they wait for the meal. “size” of the nation. They also serve burgers and sandwiches, and have constant changes, with new items every day. ending any time soon. Usually full of regulars (many of whom are, were how much things cost might ruin your vacation. and the first one to make coffee with an espresso machine. The walls duly unimpressed. lunchtime offers. or want to be students of the Icelandic Academy of Arts) mixed with are covered with art for sale and, though seats are usually filled by loyal 21. Café Victor 32. Tveir Fiskar customers, every now and then you’ll catch a glimpse of the owners, a 9. Café Árnes musicians and other members of the city’s underground. The upper 2. Ráðhúskaffi 12. Café 22 floor, for whatever reason, looks like the inside of a bus. Hafnarstræti 1-3 Geirsgötu 9 42. Mama Taco´s really nice and friendly couple in their seventies who have owned the Spelt with a c rather than with the more traditional k in order to be City Hall By the harbour Laugavegur 22 Seafood restaurant, although they also do land-based animals. At Lækjargata 8 café since its inception. Once a ferry, Café Árnes has recently been turned into a coffeeshop more cosmopolitan. This ploy seems to be working, as the bar has With view over the city pond, Ráðhúskaffi is situated inside the City Has recently undergone a major facelift. The top floor is now dedicated lunchtime you can have a three course meal for 2300, which isn’t too One of those places that seem to be always open, and hence you find by day and seafood restaurant by night. The cardeck in the basement become something of a hangout for foreigners. The Viking ship sitting Hall. Coffee and great cakes as you enjoy the view. Free internet access to artist Jón Sæmundur, aka Dead, whose Dead label can be seen on 15. Nelly’s bad, all things considered. The chef has been awarded the Medal of the yourself going to late on Saturday nights as consolation when it seems now functions as a bar. Situated by the harbour (obviously), have a on top of the house might also add to the appeal. The crowd is very for costumers and, in the lobby of City Hall, you’ll find a big 80m2 6. Feng Shui quite a few people these days. Downstairs is a decent bistro (try the Þingholtsstræti 2 Order of the White Rose by the President of Finland. inevitable you´ll be going home alone. And as consolations go, it´s traditional waffle with lots of jam and cream and watch the whale The cheapest beer in Reykjavík, with tends to attract more experienced mixed, both in origin and age, and so is the music. model of Iceland. Laugavegur 42b, by Frakkastígur Gringo), whereas the middle floor houses a dancefloor. Open until the not bad. Rather reasonable by local standards, and they have all the watchers come in. drinkers as well as expats. Troubadours play on most weekdays, mostly Inside the Feng Shui house is a café called “Teahouse of the August wee small hours, and a great place for a late night drink for those who tortillaish Mexican standards. covers though. In the weekends a younger crowd comes in, and there’s a 33. Hornið moon”. The café just recently opened and they serve organic cakes, want drink along with a less trendy (and perhaps more cool) crowd. Be 22. Jón Forseti 3. Grái Kötturinn large dancefloor on the upper floor. The prices do, however, go up after Hafnarstræti 15 biscuits and the largest selection of tea in town. Try the waffle biscuits 10. Te og Kaffi warned, though, they do charge 500 krónur entrance after 01:30. Hverfisgata 16a midnight on weekends. Aðalstræti 10 Means “the corner” and the place lives up to its name. This is actually 43. Bernhöftsbakarí and have a Kashmir tea latte. Laugavegur 24 The oldest house in Reykjavík is now, you guessed it, a gay club. Grái Kötturinn is across the street from the National Theater and is the oldest Italian restaurant in town, celebrating its 25th year, which Bergstaðastæti 13 Te og Kaffi actually manufacture the coffee for quite a few of the cafés Named after founding father and national hero Jón Sigurðsson, who very small and very popular in the early hours of the day. A good place 13. Kaffibarinn says something about the scene here before then. Excellent quality A bakery with traditions going back some 150 years, although it has in Reykjavík apart from running their own cafés. Perhaps the most lived there for a while, it now has various events, including concerts, to start a day the British way, with eggs and bacon and other traditional 7. Kaffivagninn Bergstaðastræti 1 16. Vegamót pizza, pasta and salads and yet remaining one of the more affordable changed locations. Apart from a supermarket, a bakery is still the best noteworthy aspect of the place is its staff. Most of them have actually plays and a gay cabaret, performed on a small stage that tries its best to breakfasts on the menu. The lunch menu is also inviting, but somewhat Grandagarður 10 Kaffibarinn is Cool Reykjavik, or at least tries to be. Reykjavik prides Vegamótastígur 4 ones. Try the calzone. way to fill your belly. Try the staple of Icelandic childhood and beyond: served on the Icelandic coffeemaking team. Njáll came in 4th in the Wants to be the inspot to be seen, and succeeds to some degree. Dress look big with curtains and everything. So how long until they change pricey. By the harbor where fishermen and sailors along with bus drivers and itself on having more artists per capita than any other capital in the a snúður roll with chocolate milk. international championship in Trieste this year. Jónína made freestyle up, flaunt it and enjoy the view as others do the same. It’s a jungle in George Washington’s old place into a gay bar? You heard it here first. aging tough guys gather for lunch and a cup of coffee. If you want to try world, and the crowd here seem to be trying to prove the point, with champion, with her “Cup of Culture” mix, which includes orange and there, and the fittest, or at least the fittest looking, come out on top. 34. Vox out traditional Icelandic food, pancakes, or bread with smoked lamb, musicians, actors and writers ranging from the hopefuls to the world white chocolate among other things. Have one. Kitchen open every day until 22. Specials of the day and weekend Nordica Hotel 44. Bæjarins bestu famous. Blur’s Damon Albarn owns a share of the bar, probably figur- 23. Café List brunch. Try the lobster pizza. Perhaps a typical off-lobby restaurant, bistro, bar in a four-star hotel, Tryggvagata Laugavegur 20a the Vox looks at first glance like a fancy cafeteria spiced up for an They claim to have the best hot dogs in town, and for once the product “List” means “art”, the art mostly consisting of jazz bands that play official reception. But please do not let that glance throw you off! The lives up to the hype. Ask for one with everything, and you’ll get a dog there frequently. Looks perhaps more like a hotel bar than a seedy jazz 17. Kaffibrennslan restaurant has a modern interior with extremely un-Icelandic décor, in a bun with ketchup, mustard, remulade (don’t ask), fried and raw club, but the prices of beer has gone down, so they deserve our support. Pósthússtræti 9 however the kitchen saves the situation. Run by a master chef, a recent onion. The standard Icelandic hotdog, only somehow it tastes better. One of the largest selection of beers in Reykjavik, but it’s still one of the �� winner of the super gastro competition “Bocuse d’Or,” the Menu is few bars in Reykjavík where you can attempt to maintain a conversation ���� 24. Prikið tops. after midnight on weekends. Good coffee and, for those on a budget, 45. Pizza 67 �� they are generous with the refills. Bankastræti 12 Tryggvagata 26 �� Used to be a traditional coffee house which has been around longer ������������ 35. 3 Frakkar The local pizza chain that’s trying to take on the world, and who than any but, after a change of clientele, they now cater to a younger Baldursgata 14 currently operate a place in the Faeroes and China, as well as all over crowd. A diner during the day and a nightclub on weekends. You can Klapparstígur 18. Rósenberg This is a restaurant that cannot be ignored. A very small place with Iceland. The have a Summer of Love theme, which doesn’t really also borrow games there, such as backgammon or chess. ������������ �� Lækjargötu 2 an atmosphere. Here you may enjoy the house specialties of Icelandic extend beyond the names of the pizzas, a few slogans and a few posters, It has a history as both a dance and a rock club, but has recently traditional dishes prepared in the good, old-fashioned manner, includ- but the pizzas are nice. They also do deliveries. They have a lunchtime reopened with a Jazz theme and has started serving food. It´s a place � 25. Póstbarinn ing catfish, shark, and whale steaks. And of course much more. If you’re buffet for 990, for those in search of quantity for the króna. to see up and coming Jazz bands like the teenage Danny and the lucky, Chef Ulfar Eysteinsson, the owner, may be present regaling the Dixieland Dwarfs as well as more established acts. Pósthússtræti 13 Situated by Austurvöllur, Póstbarinn is a bistro prized restaurant, a rare clientele with wild whaling tales. Don’t forget to ask Chef Ulfar for 46. Eldsmiðjan �� dark Icelandic pumpernickel bread with pure Icelandic butter, and don’t treat. It is also one of few restaurants in Reykjavík with decent outdoor Bragagata 38a Until recently Klapparstígur was just one of the many side streets of Lau- 19. Grand Rokk service. Live Jazz once a week and check out the reasonably prized fish forget to make a reservation! �� �� Oven-baked pizzas simply don’t get much better than this. It is slightly �� ����������� menu they have, only 1490ISK. Try the plaice. gavegur. This has been changing radically recently and Klapparstígur has ������������� Smiðjustígur 6 more expensive than other pizzerias, but well worth it. A wide selection �� A place true to the spirit of Rock ‘n’ Roll and bands that don’t do 36. Apotek of toppings, including that sorely missed pizza delight, snails. You can been laying its claim to fame as the hip street. Second hand clothes store �� �� � covers. Better and lesser known Icelandic bands play there, usually no 26. Celtic Cross Austurstræti 16 also turn the chef loose and let him decide what goes on it - you’ ll �� less than three bands a night, four nights a week. Whether they charge �� Formerly the central drugstore of Reykjavik, established in the late rarely be disappointed. Take away, order delivery, or eat in at the cosy “Spútnik” just moved in and so has the clothes store “Dead” that has sold admission or not is up to the bands, but if they do, all proceeds do go to Hverfisgata 26 �� Arguably the bar in town that comes closest to deserving the title of 1800s, the Apotek is now a modern restaurant with an Art Deco restaurant upstairs. The paintings are worth a peek as well. ���������� starving artists. Grab a beer and rock on! During the day this is a hang- its products to world famous rocks stars such as Metallica. Don’t forget Irish, even though the Dubliner tries harder. Except for the coffin in interior. You can still see the names of the chief managing pharmacists/ �� �� out for chess players, challenging each other and anyone that might Ranimosk, a store that sells stuff that you are unlikely to find anywhere �� the back, it’s very much alive. Live music almost every night, a trouba- owners on the wall of the bar. Today, this “drugstore” serves a different 47. Vitabar ���������� type of milkshake. Now look for a sizzling visual kitchen (behind a �� dour on the upper floor and a band in the basement, both doing their Bergþórugata 21 ����������� best to make a living as human jukeboxes. glass wall) with a Super Menu! Apotek is an eating experience not to else (and unlikely to find useful). Klapparstígur also hosts a couple of �� Actually a bar, but best known for its hamburgers. A burger with fries � be missed. restaurants, two bars, an antique store and two book stores, both selling for 500 is one of the best meal deals in town, but special mention must �� go to the Forget-Me-Not blue cheese and garlic extravaganza. The second hand literature. 37. Tapas Viking beer always feels particularly cold and refreshing here. �� �� � ���������������� CLUBS Vesturgata 3b �� �� For those with a bit of money and time on their hands, the evening is 48. First Vegetarian (Á næstu grösum) �� well spent at Tapas, where you can vile away the evening having course ������������� 27. Gaukur á Stöng after course of wonderful miniature dishes served. Recommended is Laugavegur 20b Used to be called One Woman Restaurant, as there was always the Tryggvagata 22 the garlic fried lobster and lamb in apricot sauce. If you don’t feel like same woman working there. Has new owners and a larger staff, but the �� Iceland’s oldest club is turning 20 this fall. During the day it’s a pool getting up right away afterwards, there’s also a lounge to lounge in, and theme is still vegetarian, with one vegan and one wheat-free dish al- pub and on weekday evenings there are live rock concerts by more the paintings there are worth a look. � mainstream bands. On weekends there is usually a lot of action with ways on offer. The only vegetarian restaurant licensed to carry beer and cover bands playing everything from Britney to the Beatles. Without wine. Remains on the right side of the 1000 krónur bill at lunchtime, exception you’ll be charged at least 1000kr for entrance in the evenings. 38. Jómfrúin slips slightly over in the evening. � Crowd: 20+ Lækjargata 4 �� In this global age, it can be hard to find good smörrebröd even in 49. Hlölli Copenhagen. Never fear: out here in the colonies you can still find first 28. Nasa rate smörrebröd at Jómfrúin. They even import their own eel directly By Ingólfstorg Where Nonni used to work before he went solo, due to creative dif- by Austurvöllur from Denmark to make one of Scandinavia’s delicacies. Used to be a theatre, but is now a club. Great sound system and oc- ferences no doubt. They have a somewhat larger selection of subs then casional live bands. The towns biggest club, but the high prices do limit Nonni, and they also have smaller sizes for kids and weight watchers. �� the crowd somewhat. Admission 1000 krónur. 39. Rossopomodoro Brave souls might want to try the Gúmmí-Bátur (rubber boat), which �� �� �� Laugavegur 40a might seem like an oversized relative of the ever-present pulsa. 29. Mojito bar This is a new chain of eateries trying to move away from the American �� image of pizza joints. Originally a local Napoli venture, now a string of 50. Reykjavík Bagel Company �� Austurstræti 16 modestly cool restaurants striving to make it in Northern Europe. Ice- ������������ Situated on the 5th floor, and is only accessible by elevator. A place land is one of the first places for Rossopomodoro outside Italy. A clever Laugavegur 81 �� Situated a bit from the immediate centre but close to Hlemmur bus- where you can run into MP´s and business tycoons living it up. That beginning in a country absolutely free from Neopolitan traditions. A stop. Bagels, wraps and coffee that might make you feel better in the �� ����������� ������������� might be some indication of the price range. The candleholders, for modest wine list with good prices some inexplicable reason, are Turkish hashpipes. It´s only open Fridays morning than the more hardcore fast foods farther down the street. ����������� and Saturdays between 11 and 3. 40. Café Opera �������������������������� Lækjargata 2 � ���������� 30. Leikhúskjallarinn Situated right in the middle of downtown Reykjavik, the Opera is a Hverfisgata 19 popular place for those who missed the 10 o’clock kitchen deadline at Recently opened again and is gaining respect, It’s a Restaurant during restaurants further away from the discos and the midtown nightlife. the day but a dance place during night (weekends of course). The crowd Café Opera’s kitchen is open weekdays until 23:30 and weekends until here is usually little more mature then in the other clubs. Talented DJs 01:00 in the morning. A fine cuisine with mouthwatering specialties is play with the drunken crowd. a first choice for many local gourmets. ����������� �� Crowd: 25+ ��������������� � �� ��������������� ������������ �� �� ��������� �� �� � ������������ 21

CAFE´S 4. Café Roma this is the right place to see another side of Reykjavík. BARS & BISTRO ing it was cheaper than buying drinks all the time. Another owner is wander in here for a game, as every table doubles as a chess board. One RESTAURANTS FAST FOOD USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS Laugavegur 118 the director of the film 101 Reykjavík, and the bar figures prominently of the best places to meet locals for a chat, every night of the week. Is the closest thing you’ll find to a New York deli in town. A lively 8. Tíu Dropar in the film. Useful for Emergencies 1. Segafredo cross-section of artists, students and office workers enjoy home baked 11. Sólon 31. Pasta Basta 41. Nonnabiti Emergency phone 112 fire, police, ambulance By Lækjartorg Laugavegur 27 Bankastræti 7a 20. Bar 11 Klapparstíg 38 Hafnarstræti 11 pannini and great coffee all at low prices. With the exception of Mokka, Tíu Dropar is the oldest café in Emergency Ward, City Hospital 24hrs. 525-1000 McDonalds has departed from the centre of Reykjavík and instead One size fits all is what this place is going for, and it’s usually a very 14. Sirkus Laugavegur 11 An affordable Italian place. The pasta is has generous portions and the The owner is a miser who charges additionally for everything, but downtown Reykjavik. The place has a very special feel to it, the decor, The rock hangout, be it live music or the riff-heavy jukebox. Many of Doctor: 1770 Italian chain Segafredo has arrived, which isn’t a bad trade-off. You crowded pick up place. Somewhat expensive, and whether it´s because Klapparstígur 30 salad with grilled chicken is a good light option. The garden is nice, this is almost certainly the best junk food in the Greater Reykjavík the tables and the chairs, along with the service makes you feel very “Welcome to the Jungle/ We got fun and games,” quoth the poet. Iceland’s rock bands are regulars. Bands play and/or poetry is recited Dentist: 575-0505 can smoke indoors, which gives you a nice continental feel, the staff 5. Mokka of this, an attempt at masculinity or just general despair, people have with a glass ceiling protecting punters from the wind and the rain. It area. The subs are great, none of that Subway commitment to healthy much at home. It’s almost like your sitting down for a cup of coffee in With tropical palm trees on the outside and tropical heat on the inside, most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, A good place to come Directory information 118 is Italian and the prices are in Euros as well as krónur. Although Sega Skólavörðustígur 3a been known to jump from the second floor balcony. This is not recom- has paper covering the tables, and guests are supplied with crayons so living, and they probably contribute significantly to the ever-increasing your grandma’s kitchen. The menu is limited, but has the advantage of welcome to the party that never came to an end and doesn’t seem to be down on Sundays, with a screening of cult films. Pharmacies find your closest or call 118 isn’t one of the more expensive places, you wonder whether knowing An Icelandic tradition since 1958, Mokka is the oldest café in Reykjavik mended, as a broken leg is most often the result, and the girls remain the can decorate their surroundings as they wait for the meal. “size” of the nation. They also serve burgers and sandwiches, and have constant changes, with new items every day. ending any time soon. Usually full of regulars (many of whom are, were how much things cost might ruin your vacation. and the first one to make coffee with an espresso machine. The walls duly unimpressed. lunchtime offers. or want to be students of the Icelandic Academy of Arts) mixed with Internet Cafés are covered with art for sale and, though seats are usually filled by loyal 21. Café Victor 32. Tveir Fiskar Ráðhúskaffi, City Hall, 101 Rvk. 563-2169 customers, every now and then you’ll catch a glimpse of the owners, a 9. Café Árnes musicians and other members of the city’s underground. The upper 2. Ráðhúskaffi 12. Café 22 floor, for whatever reason, looks like the inside of a bus. Hafnarstræti 1-3 Geirsgötu 9 42. Mama Taco´s BSI, Vatnsmýrarvegur 10, 101 Rvk. 591-1000 really nice and friendly couple in their seventies who have owned the Spelt with a c rather than with the more traditional k in order to be City Hall By the harbour Laugavegur 22 Seafood restaurant, although they also do land-based animals. At Lækjargata 8 Netkaffi, Kringlan mall, 103 Rvk. 533-2424 café since its inception. Once a ferry, Café Árnes has recently been turned into a coffeeshop more cosmopolitan. This ploy seems to be working, as the bar has With view over the city pond, Ráðhúskaffi is situated inside the City Has recently undergone a major facelift. The top floor is now dedicated lunchtime you can have a three course meal for 2300, which isn’t too One of those places that seem to be always open, and hence you find Reykjavík Travel Service, Lækjargata 2, 101 Rvk. 511-2442 by day and seafood restaurant by night. The cardeck in the basement become something of a hangout for foreigners. The Viking ship sitting Hall. Coffee and great cakes as you enjoy the view. Free internet access to artist Jón Sæmundur, aka Dead, whose Dead label can be seen on 15. Nelly’s bad, all things considered. The chef has been awarded the Medal of the yourself going to late on Saturday nights as consolation when it seems Ground Zero, Vallarstræti 4, 101 Rvk. 562-7776 now functions as a bar. Situated by the harbour (obviously), have a on top of the house might also add to the appeal. The crowd is very for costumers and, in the lobby of City Hall, you’ll find a big 80m2 6. Feng Shui quite a few people these days. Downstairs is a decent bistro (try the Þingholtsstræti 2 Order of the White Rose by the President of Finland. inevitable you´ll be going home alone. And as consolations go, it´s traditional waffle with lots of jam and cream and watch the whale The cheapest beer in Reykjavík, with tends to attract more experienced mixed, both in origin and age, and so is the music. Useful Websites model of Iceland. Laugavegur 42b, by Frakkastígur Gringo), whereas the middle floor houses a dancefloor. Open until the not bad. Rather reasonable by local standards, and they have all the watchers come in. drinkers as well as expats. Troubadours play on most weekdays, mostly Inside the Feng Shui house is a café called “Teahouse of the August wee small hours, and a great place for a late night drink for those who tortillaish Mexican standards. www.icetourist.is covers though. In the weekends a younger crowd comes in, and there’s a 33. Hornið moon”. The café just recently opened and they serve organic cakes, want drink along with a less trendy (and perhaps more cool) crowd. Be 22. Jón Forseti www.visitreykjavik.is 3. Grái Kötturinn large dancefloor on the upper floor. The prices do, however, go up after Hafnarstræti 15 biscuits and the largest selection of tea in town. Try the waffle biscuits 10. Te og Kaffi warned, though, they do charge 500 krónur entrance after 01:30. www.grapevine.is Hverfisgata 16a midnight on weekends. Aðalstræti 10 Means “the corner” and the place lives up to its name. This is actually 43. Bernhöftsbakarí and have a Kashmir tea latte. Laugavegur 24 The oldest house in Reykjavík is now, you guessed it, a gay club. Grái Kötturinn is across the street from the National Theater and is the oldest Italian restaurant in town, celebrating its 25th year, which Bergstaðastæti 13 Car Rentals Te og Kaffi actually manufacture the coffee for quite a few of the cafés Named after founding father and national hero Jón Sigurðsson, who very small and very popular in the early hours of the day. A good place 13. Kaffibarinn says something about the scene here before then. Excellent quality A bakery with traditions going back some 150 years, although it has ALP 562-6060 in Reykjavík apart from running their own cafés. Perhaps the most lived there for a while, it now has various events, including concerts, to start a day the British way, with eggs and bacon and other traditional 7. Kaffivagninn Bergstaðastræti 1 16. Vegamót pizza, pasta and salads and yet remaining one of the more affordable changed locations. Apart from a supermarket, a bakery is still the best Avis 591-4000 noteworthy aspect of the place is its staff. Most of them have actually plays and a gay cabaret, performed on a small stage that tries its best to breakfasts on the menu. The lunch menu is also inviting, but somewhat Grandagarður 10 Kaffibarinn is Cool Reykjavik, or at least tries to be. Reykjavik prides Vegamótastígur 4 ones. Try the calzone. way to fill your belly. Try the staple of Icelandic childhood and beyond: Berg car rental 577-6050 served on the Icelandic coffeemaking team. Njáll came in 4th in the Wants to be the inspot to be seen, and succeeds to some degree. Dress look big with curtains and everything. So how long until they change pricey. By the harbor where fishermen and sailors along with bus drivers and itself on having more artists per capita than any other capital in the a snúður roll with chocolate milk. Budget 567-8300 international championship in Trieste this year. Jónína made freestyle up, flaunt it and enjoy the view as others do the same. It’s a jungle in George Washington’s old place into a gay bar? You heard it here first. aging tough guys gather for lunch and a cup of coffee. If you want to try world, and the crowd here seem to be trying to prove the point, with Europcar 591-4050 champion, with her “Cup of Culture” mix, which includes orange and there, and the fittest, or at least the fittest looking, come out on top. 34. Vox out traditional Icelandic food, pancakes, or bread with smoked lamb, musicians, actors and writers ranging from the hopefuls to the world SBK car rental 420-6000 white chocolate among other things. Have one. Kitchen open every day until 22. Specials of the day and weekend Nordica Hotel 44. Bæjarins bestu famous. Blur’s Damon Albarn owns a share of the bar, probably figur- 23. Café List brunch. Try the lobster pizza. Perhaps a typical off-lobby restaurant, bistro, bar in a four-star hotel, Tryggvagata Other Useful Numbers Laugavegur 20a the Vox looks at first glance like a fancy cafeteria spiced up for an They claim to have the best hot dogs in town, and for once the product “List” means “art”, the art mostly consisting of jazz bands that play City bus info, 551-2700 official reception. But please do not let that glance throw you off! The lives up to the hype. Ask for one with everything, and you’ll get a dog there frequently. Looks perhaps more like a hotel bar than a seedy jazz BSÍ bus info, 591-1000 17. Kaffibrennslan restaurant has a modern interior with extremely un-Icelandic décor, in a bun with ketchup, mustard, remulade (don’t ask), fried and raw club, but the prices of beer has gone down, so they deserve our support. Pósthússtræti 9 however the kitchen saves the situation. Run by a master chef, a recent onion. The standard Icelandic hotdog, only somehow it tastes better. One of the largest selection of beers in Reykjavik, but it’s still one of the Post Offices winner of the super gastro competition “Bocuse d’Or,” the Menu is few bars in Reykjavík where you can attempt to maintain a conversation Central Post office, Pósthússtræti 5, 101 Rvk. 580-1000. 24. Prikið tops. after midnight on weekends. Good coffee and, for those on a budget, 45. Pizza 67 Post offices are easily found around Iceland they are generous with the refills. Bankastræti 12 Tryggvagata 26 Used to be a traditional coffee house which has been around longer Laundry Services 35. 3 Frakkar The local pizza chain that’s trying to take on the world, and who than any but, after a change of clientele, they now cater to a younger Baldursgata 14 currently operate a place in the Faeroes and China, as well as all over Emla laundry, Barónsstígur 3, 101 Rvk, 552-4799 crowd. A diner during the day and a nightclub on weekends. You can 18. Rósenberg This is a restaurant that cannot be ignored. A very small place with Iceland. The have a Summer of Love theme, which doesn’t really A Smith laundry, Bergstaðastræti 52, 101 Rvk, 551-7140 also borrow games there, such as backgammon or chess. Lækjargötu 2 an atmosphere. Here you may enjoy the house specialties of Icelandic extend beyond the names of the pizzas, a few slogans and a few posters, It has a history as both a dance and a rock club, but has recently Taxi services traditional dishes prepared in the good, old-fashioned manner, includ- but the pizzas are nice. They also do deliveries. They have a lunchtime reopened with a Jazz theme and has started serving food. It´s a place Hreyfill-Bæjarleiðir 588-5522 25. Póstbarinn ing catfish, shark, and whale steaks. And of course much more. If you’re buffet for 990, for those in search of quantity for the króna. to see up and coming Jazz bands like the teenage Danny and the Borgarbílastöðin 552-2440 Pósthússtræti 13 lucky, Chef Ulfar Eysteinsson, the owner, may be present regaling the Dixieland Dwarfs as well as more established acts. BSR 561-0000 Situated by Austurvöllur, Póstbarinn is a bistro prized restaurant, a rare clientele with wild whaling tales. Don’t forget to ask Chef Ulfar for 46. Eldsmiðjan dark Icelandic pumpernickel bread with pure Icelandic butter, and don’t Rent a bike treat. It is also one of few restaurants in Reykjavík with decent outdoor Bragagata 38a service. Live Jazz once a week and check out the reasonably prized fish forget to make a reservation! Borgarhjól, Hverfisgata 50, 101 Rvk 551-5653 19. Grand Rokk Oven-baked pizzas simply don’t get much better than this. It is slightly menu they have, only 1490ISK. Try the plaice. Reykjavík travel service, Lækjargata 2, 101 Rvk, 511-2442 Smiðjustígur 6 more expensive than other pizzerias, but well worth it. A wide selection A place true to the spirit of Rock ‘n’ Roll and bands that don’t do Reykjavík Youth Hostel, Sundlaugarvegur 34, 105. Rvk. 36. Apotek of toppings, including that sorely missed pizza delight, snails. You can covers. Better and lesser known Icelandic bands play there, usually no 533-8110 26. Celtic Cross Austurstræti 16 also turn the chef loose and let him decide what goes on it - you’ ll less than three bands a night, four nights a week. Whether they charge Formerly the central drugstore of Reykjavik, established in the late rarely be disappointed. Take away, order delivery, or eat in at the cosy admission or not is up to the bands, but if they do, all proceeds do go to Hverfisgata 26 Selected swimming pools Arguably the bar in town that comes closest to deserving the title of 1800s, the Apotek is now a modern restaurant with an Art Deco restaurant upstairs. The paintings are worth a peek as well. starving artists. Grab a beer and rock on! During the day this is a hang- Laugardalslaug, Sundlaugarvegur 105 Rvk. Irish, even though the Dubliner tries harder. Except for the coffin in interior. You can still see the names of the chief managing pharmacists/ out for chess players, challenging each other and anyone that might Sundhöllin, Barónsstígur, 101 Rvk. the back, it’s very much alive. Live music almost every night, a trouba- owners on the wall of the bar. Today, this “drugstore” serves a different 47. Vitabar Vesturbæjarlaug, Hofsvallagata, 101 Rvk. type of milkshake. Now look for a sizzling visual kitchen (behind a dour on the upper floor and a band in the basement, both doing their Bergþórugata 21 best to make a living as human jukeboxes. glass wall) with a Super Menu! Apotek is an eating experience not to Actually a bar, but best known for its hamburgers. A burger with fries be missed. Grapevine hangouts for 500 is one of the best meal deals in town, but special mention must Kaffibarinn, Bergstaðastræti 1, 551-1588 go to the Forget-Me-Not blue cheese and garlic extravaganza. The Segafredo, Lækjartorg (main square). 37. Tapas Viking beer always feels particularly cold and refreshing here. Kaffibrennslan, Pósthússtræti 9, 561-3600. CLUBS Vesturgata 3b Hamborgarabúllan, Tryggvagata 4-6, 511-1888. For those with a bit of money and time on their hands, the evening is 48. First Vegetarian (Á næstu grösum) Sirkus, Klapparstígur 30. well spent at Tapas, where you can vile away the evening having course Laugardalslaug, Sundlaugarvegur 105 Rvk. 27. Gaukur á Stöng after course of wonderful miniature dishes served. Recommended is Laugavegur 20b Used to be called One Woman Restaurant, as there was always the Grapevine international headquarters, Tryggvagata 22 the garlic fried lobster and lamb in apricot sauce. If you don’t feel like same woman working there. Has new owners and a larger staff, but the Hafnarstræti 15, 562-1213. Iceland’s oldest club is turning 20 this fall. During the day it’s a pool getting up right away afterwards, there’s also a lounge to lounge in, and theme is still vegetarian, with one vegan and one wheat-free dish al- pub and on weekday evenings there are live rock concerts by more the paintings there are worth a look. � mainstream bands. On weekends there is usually a lot of action with ways on offer. The only vegetarian restaurant licensed to carry beer and cover bands playing everything from Britney to the Beatles. Without wine. Remains on the right side of the 1000 krónur bill at lunchtime, exception you’ll be charged at least 1000kr for entrance in the evenings. 38. Jómfrúin slips slightly over in the evening. � Crowd: 20+ Lækjargata 4 �� In this global age, it can be hard to find good smörrebröd even in 49. Hlölli Copenhagen. Never fear: out here in the colonies you can still find first 28. Nasa rate smörrebröd at Jómfrúin. They even import their own eel directly By Ingólfstorg Where Nonni used to work before he went solo, due to creative dif- by Austurvöllur from Denmark to make one of Scandinavia’s delicacies. Used to be a theatre, but is now a club. Great sound system and oc- ferences no doubt. They have a somewhat larger selection of subs then casional live bands. The towns biggest club, but the high prices do limit Nonni, and they also have smaller sizes for kids and weight watchers. �� the crowd somewhat. Admission 1000 krónur. 39. Rossopomodoro Brave souls might want to try the Gúmmí-Bátur (rubber boat), which �� �� �� Laugavegur 40a might seem like an oversized relative of the ever-present pulsa. 29. Mojito bar This is a new chain of eateries trying to move away from the American �� image of pizza joints. Originally a local Napoli venture, now a string of 50. Reykjavík Bagel Company �� Austurstræti 16 modestly cool restaurants striving to make it in Northern Europe. Ice- ������������ Situated on the 5th floor, and is only accessible by elevator. A place land is one of the first places for Rossopomodoro outside Italy. A clever Laugavegur 81 �� Situated a bit from the immediate centre but close to Hlemmur bus- where you can run into MP´s and business tycoons living it up. That beginning in a country absolutely free from Neopolitan traditions. A stop. Bagels, wraps and coffee that might make you feel better in the �� ����������� ������������� might be some indication of the price range. The candleholders, for modest wine list with good prices some inexplicable reason, are Turkish hashpipes. It´s only open Fridays morning than the more hardcore fast foods farther down the street. ����������� and Saturdays between 11 and 3. 40. Café Opera �������������������������� Lækjargata 2 � ���������� 30. Leikhúskjallarinn Situated right in the middle of downtown Reykjavik, the Opera is a Hverfisgata 19 popular place for those who missed the 10 o’clock kitchen deadline at Recently opened again and is gaining respect, It’s a Restaurant during restaurants further away from the discos and the midtown nightlife. the day but a dance place during night (weekends of course). The crowd Café Opera’s kitchen is open weekdays until 23:30 and weekends until here is usually little more mature then in the other clubs. Talented DJs 01:00 in the morning. A fine cuisine with mouthwatering specialties is play with the drunken crowd. a first choice for many local gourmets. GREAT SELECTION OF THE ����������� �� Crowd: 25+ ��������������� � �� BEST ICELANDIC MUSIC INDIE / POP / CLASSICAL / JAZZ / ELECTRO / FOLK ��������������� ������������ �� Please visit and enjoy good music and free espresso coffee �� or tea. ��������� �� And we offer Tax Free Shopping! �� Skólavörðustígur 15 � Phone: 511-5656 ������������ THEY DON’T GIVE CHANGE Reykjavík has no trams, trains or subways, only buses. These yellow things can take you pretty much anywhere in the Reykjavík area. It’s a slow system and you might have to change buses a couple of times to get where you want to, though usually things run smoothly and on time. The price of a single fare is 220kr for an adult (60kr for children under 12). If you are in town for more than a few days, then the nine ticket package for 1500kr would be a better deal. Bus cards valid for two weeks, a month or three months are also available. You have to pay as you step on board and it has to be the exact amount, unless you want to pay more for your ride. The driver cannot give you change. You can ask the driver for a free, time-limited transfer ticket if you need two buses to complete your journey.

The bus system is closed at night. You can catch your first bus between 6:40 and 7:00 in the morn- ing, and last call is around 24:00. The main bus stops in Reykjavík are Hlemmur and Lækjartorg, where you’ll be able to get all the information you need.

Don’t Nordica Hotel compromise Sudurlandsbraut 2 We don’t 108 Reykjavik, Iceland � � � � � Tel: (+354) 444-5050 Fax: (+354) 444-5001 “...the meals were simply [email protected] the best I have enjoyed in an www.vox.is Icelandic restaurant this year."

Food and wine critic – Morgunblaðið Daily Newspaper September 7th 2003 RESTAURANT 22

ADDRESS BOOK ...continued from pg. 19 Museums Cafés ASÍ. Art Museum, Freyjugata 41, 511-5353 Bleika Dúfan, Laugavegur 21, p: 517-1980 Árbæjarsafn Folk Museum, Kistuhylur 4, p: 557-1111 Café Árnes, by the harbour, p: 551-5101 Ásmundarsafn, Sculpture museum, Sigtún, p: 553-2155 Café Paris, Austurstræti 14, p: 551-1020 Culture House, Hverfisgata 15, p: 545-1400 Café Roma, Laugavegi 118, p: 562-0020 Einar Jónsson, Sculpture museum, Einarsgata, p: 551-3797 Feng Shui, Laugavegur 42b, p: 551-8686 Gerðarsafn, Kóparvogur Art Gallery, Hamraborg 4, p:551-3797 Grái Kötturinn, Hverfisgata 16a, p: 551-1544 Hafnarborg Art Gallery, Srandgata 34 Hafnarfj, 555-0080 Kaffivagninn, Grandagarður 10, p: 551-5932 Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art museum, Tryggvagata 17, p: 590-1200 Mokka, Skólavörðustígur 3a, p: 552-1174 Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Hlemmur 5, p:590-0500 Ráðhúskaffi, City Hall, p: 563-2169 Kjarvalsstaðir Art Museum, Flókagata, p: 517-1290 Segafredo by Lækjartorg main square. Museum of Medical History, Neströð 170, p: 561-1016 Te og Kaffi, Laugavegur 27, p: 533-6262 National Gallery of Iceland, Fríkirkjuvegur 7, p: 515-9600 Café, Bar and Bistro Nordic House, Sturlugata 5, p: 551-7030 Ari í Ögri, Ingólfsstræti 3, p: 551-9660 Reykjavík City Library, Tryggvagata 15, p: 563-1750 Bar 11, Laugavegur 11, p: 511-1180 Reykjavík Elestrivity Museum, Rafstöðvarvegur, p: 567-9009 Café 22, Laugavegur 22, p: 511-5522 Reykjavík Museum of Photography, Tryggvagata 15, p: 563-1790 Café List, Laugavegur 20a, p: 511-1420 Reykjavík Zoo & Family Park, Engjavegur, p: 575-7800 Café Victor, Hafnarstræti 1-3, p: 561-9555 Saga Museum, Perlan Öskjuhlíð, p: 511-1517 Celtic Cross, Hverfisgata 26, p: 511-3240 Sigurjón Ólafsson Sculpture Museum, Lauganestangi 70, p: 553-2906 Dubliner, Hafnarstræti 4, 511-3233 Galleries Glaumbar, Tryggvagata 20, p: 552-6868 101 Gallery, Hverfisgata 18a Grand Rokk, Smiðjustígur 6, p: 551-5522 Gallery Kling og Bang, Laugavegi 23, p: 822-0402 Hressingarskálinn, Austurstræti 20, p: 561-2240 Gallery Fold, Rauðarárstígur 14-16, p: 551-0400 Hverfisbar, Hverfisgata 20, p: 511-6700 Gallery Hnoss, Skólavörðustígur 16, p: 561-8485 Jón Forseti, Aðalstræti 10, p: 551-0962 Gallery i8, Klapparstígur 33, p: 551-3666 Kaffi Kúltur, Hverfisgötu 18, p: 530-9314 Gallery Meistari Jakob, Skólavörðustígur 5, p: 552-7161 Kaffibarinn, Bergstaðastræti 1, p: 551-1588 Gallery Skuggi, Hverfistaga 39, p: 511-1139 Kaffibrennslan, Pósthússtræti 9, p: 561-3600 Gallery Tukt, Pósthússtræti 3-5, p: 520-4600 Nelly’s, Þingholtsstræti 2, p: 551-2477 Handverk og Hönnun, Aðalstræti 12, p: 551-7595 Prikið, Bankastræti 12, p: 551-3366 Safn, Laugavegur 37, p: 561-8777 Póstbarinn, Pósthússtræti 13, 562-7830 The Icelandic Printmakers Association, Tryggvagata 17, p: 588-7576 Rósenberg, Lækjargötu 2, p: 551-8008 Other Sirkus, Klapparstígur 30 Sólon, Bankastræti 7a, p: 562-3232 Hallgrímskirkja church, Skólavörðuholti, p: 510-1000 Thorvaldsen bar, Austurstræti 8, p: 511-1413 Klink og Bank, Brautarholt, p: 822-0402 Vegamót, Vegamótastígur 4, p: 511-3040 Perlan, Öskjuhlíð Kringlan shopping mall, Kringlan 8-12, p: 568-9200 Clubs Volcano show: Red rock cinema, Hellusund 6a, p: 845-9548 Gaukur á Stöng, Tryggvagata 22, p: 551-1556 Salurinn Concert Hall, Hamraborg 6, p: 570-0400 Leikhúskjallarinn, Hverfisgata 19, p: 551-6010 H.S. Theaters Mojito, Austurstræti 16, p: 575-7905 Nasa, by Austurvöllur, p: 511-1313 Light nights, Iðnó Theater, p: 551-9181 It seems that this prolific young is I’d ask (finale), a marching lament Restaurants Fastfood man--singer, songwriter, festival executed with an accordion and a Bæjarins bestu, Tryggvagata, p: 894-4515 3 Frakkar, Baldursgata 14, p: 552-3939 Bernhöftsbakarí, Bergstaðastæti 13, p: 551-3083 organizer, and now film scorer--has chorus of Mugi’s voices. Overall Café Opera, Lækjargata 2, p: 552-9499 Eldsmiðjan, Bragagata 38a, p: 562-3838 his fingers in a lot of pies around the music is evocative in only a way Hornið, Hafnarstræti 15, p: 551-3340 First Vegetarian (Á næstu grösum), Laugavegur 20b, p: 552-8410 Jómfrúin, Lækjargata 4, p: 551-0100 the country. I can’t seem to talk to movie music can be, but despite Hlölli, Ingólfstorgi, p: 511-3500 Maru, Aðalstræti 12, p: 511-4440 anyone involved with Icelandic music the fact that its visual counterpart Mama Taco’s, Lækjargata 8, 551-5513 Rossopomodoro, Laugavegur 40a, p: 561-0500 Nonnabiti, Hafnarstræti 11, p: 551-2312 without his name popping up. Gun- is missing, the album puts forth a Pasta Basta, Klapparstígur 38, p: 511-2238 Pizza 67, Tryggvagata 26, p: 561-9900 Sjávarkjallarinn, Aðalstræti 2, p: 511-1212 nar Tynes from Múm characterizes palpable mood of melancholy and Pizza Pronto, Vallarstræti 4, p: 517-5445 Tapas, Vesturgata 3b, p: 551-2344 the situation, “there is actually a lot nostalgia. “I’m not a conscious musi- Reykjavík Bagel Company, Laugavegur 81, p: 511-4500 Tjarnarbakkinn, Vonarstræti 2, p: 562-9700 Vitabar, Bergþórugata 21, p: 551-7200 of good music in Iceland, but it’s not cian, so I don’t really know how it Tveir Fiskar, Geirsgata 9, p: 511-3474 the popular music. So few people are happens. I just know I’m ridiculously Við Tjörnina, Templarasund 3, p: 551-8666 Vox Nordica Hotel, Suðurlandsbraut 2, p: 444-5050 listening to musicians like Mugison. lucky. This guy must be insane to I don’t understand.” With the release trust a kid to make his soundtrack!” of Friðrik Þór’s international co- production, perhaps the melodies of “Champagne” Mugi will be able to reach more ears. However, the soundtrack is far from kid’s stuff. The entire record is laced Mugi’s ridiculous luck with luminal sounds: water, breath- “I watched the movie about a million ing, distant talking, rattles, and times to start with,” Mugi explains, pops. These tracks were painstak- “then I started to put the music ingly rendered. It’s a slow film and together while looking at some it needs lots of music. When I asked scenes.” The music is a real deviation [Friðrik Þór] what kind of music from Mugi’s previous album, Lonely he was thinking about, he just said Mountain. Some tracks like 2 birds ‘champagne!’ to me and hung up are rather traditional in form, a gui- the phone.” The film has done well tar and two crooning voices. Other in the film festival circuit and will tracks like Patrick Swayze incorpo- premier in Iceland soon. Mugison is rate clips from the film followed by currently working on his next album a sampled and computer-generated which should be out in the middle of soundscape. Another track of note October.

����� MOVIESandTHEATRE

City Theatre, 5/9, 12/9, 19/9, 26/9. HAKKEBAKKE FOREST The smaller animals of Hakkebakke Forest are threatened by larger animals who try to eat them or steal their food. But what will happen if the animals vote for a law that WE ARE ON A MISSION says that all the animals of the forest are to be friends? FROM GOD City Theatre, 17/9, 25/9, 30/9. L THINGS ARE GOING GREAT IVE MUSIC Different aspects of Icelandic society revealed through the story of Ragnheiður Birna, a young woman determined to become an artist who goes through a tornado of crazy situ- UPCOMING ations, but she never loses faith in herself. Only the world EVENTS remains to be convinced! Sunday September 5th City Theatre, 3/9, 4/9, 9/9, 10/9, 11/9, 18/9, Bands: Indigo and Siggi Ármanns 23/9, 24/9 EDITH PIAF Thursday September 9th An unforgettable voice. A unique life; the upbringing Bands: Líkn and Nr.0 among whores and criminals in Paris, and the incredible rise from the gutter to the most glorious music halls of the Friday September 10th world. A new play with songs about the woman behind Bands: Drep and Saktmóðigur the legend City Theatre, Premiere 24/9, 26/9. Saturday September 11th Bands: Nix Nolte's big band BLACK MILK YOU WILL NEVER In a run down waiting room of a rural railway station, a young couple from the city has descended on a village to Saturday September 18th 551 5522

p: sell toasters that don’t work. A new play written by one of

Bands: Worm is Green and AmPop DRINK ALONE Smiðjustíg 6. Russia’s most interesting contemporary young writers. 23

But what can you expect from a guy who’s been Yep, everyone always has their own agenda. We travelling around the world and isn’t even close to talk about the metaphorical guy who hears about being finished? He’s even carrying a dress shirt when Super Size Me while in a drive-thru and thinks, “I I first meet him, the one he wore on the news, and should have done that when I thought of it a year in true docu-style form, it’s also one that he wears ago!” Morgan’s impression of this guy involves a regularly in the film. flat-handed slap to his own forehead. We make the “Our American way of life has been franchised,” thwarted expression of the guy who had “eat only he says loudly, his interview-voice in top form, McDs” on his list right next to “invent hydroelectric “and I think on a global level, people need to be phone” and a million other things. There’s always asking themselves ‘Do we really want to look and that person with endless big ideas who says ‘I taste just like America?’ I go to all these great cities, thought of that before someone else did’ and ‘I and I just think ‘Why does there need to be a KFC should have acted on that back when I thought of it.’ here?’ When people travel they should experience But Morgan is big into such ideas, since that’s something beyond Starbucks.” what Super Size Me was: an idea he had while It’s a basic yet valid point, one that any American sitting on the sofa, watching the news story of two is virtually obliged to make upon entering a foreign obese American girls who were suing McDonalds city. Although I do love a good Starbucks, and you for serving them such monstrous food. And acting know, they’ve got those pamphlets about free trade, on random, inspired ideas is, after all, the purest supporting Guatemalan family growers… form of the American dream. Morgan’s face lights up. “Oh man, you can’t “Yeah, this is one reason why I love America. be a journalist and buy Starbucks! Of course they People have started grouping me with Michael have literature about free trade! But they have kids Moore, saying that we are both making these picking beans for a penny an hour in Guatemala, anti-American films. But that’s not the goal of they’ve taken over a huge part of the land, this movie at all. Documentary has become the come on!” Neither one of us knows if this last great medium of free expression, and our First BELCHING UP THE is true, and we look at each other for a Amendment right to express these kinds of things.” moment. But his general mantra is that The notion of the American dream, though you really can’t know what information is frequently referenced in satirical ways in social/ being hidden. political films, really is the foundation of Morgan’s AMERICAN DREAM “And yes, my sex life is back to normal, success with the film. The prevalence of this film thank you!” I love a good non-sequitur, but I have is confirmation that one person can have a massive no idea what he’s talking about. Maybe he doesn’t effect on such an overwhelming force as the fast remember that the movie hasn’t, at the time of the food industry. And it seems that with the pursuit of interview, opened here yet. I smirk and pretend to the American dream, shock value doesn’t have to be H.S. write it down. After all, he seems like a nice guy left out. “I do hope it inspires people who have big who’s just done a lot of interviews about hamburgers ideas like that…and they see that it’s possible to run by Marcie Hume and liver failure. out there, follow through with it. I hope it affects that guy in the drive-thru who said ‘I thought of Everyone grabs at a slice of the apple pie that too!’ I hope it empowers him.” Morgan Spurlock, like the Big Mac, is a classic: he’s a New Yorker who The film has had amazing exposure for a little movie grew up somewhere in the rest of America (West Virginia in this instance) made for $65,000 (spare change compared to most Selling indie america to iceland but ended up in the big city. He is fast-talking and articulate, ready to thrash movie budgets, and funded completely by Morgan Later in the evening I watch Morgan being himself ). Even before the movie was released, a man interviewed on the news, wearing the special shirt. out the travesties of American culture. If you went to a liberal arts college in in Reykjavík began eating only BooztBar products He´s lot more polished and smiley that he was America, this guy could have been one of your talkative acquaintances in film for 30 days, having been sponsored by the company before. I have to remember that this film really has class, the one who always raised his hand. But he’s maintained the country- to do so. “People with their agendas always jump brought a new kind of attention to these matters, boy vibe, too, not to mention the type of moustache that I honestly haven’t seen on,” Morgan says with the most sarcastic tone I’ve and sure he should be proud. since I last drove through Nebraska heard yet, but he speaks in that assured way that At the opening of the film at Háskólabíó that makes what he’s saying seem like the most obvious evening, Morgan answers some questions, merging The guy could talk about America for hours. Most of the jive is the familiar anti- thing in the world. “There are people doing that in his answers from the news. He pulls his girlfriend corporation variety, but he definitely presents it with gusto. When he really gets going, all over the place, probably 50 of them in America, up on stage and says “Our sex life is back to normal, you can tell that he has been doing a lot of interviews. “Fifteen hundred interviews so in Holland, here...everybody has their own agenda thank you!” far... at least. About fifteen today,” he says. He goes from chatting about his life directly and the last thing I’m gonna do is say that I support into orating about the film in a sort of pre-planned spiel. BooztBar or something.” Screenings start rougly every two hours, at 18, 20 and 22. However, with films getting ever longer, starting times may vary. There are usually ads and trailers for roughly 15 minutes from announced starting time. Almost all films have a short intermission. The MOVIES : LISTINGS : september 3 - september 30 still running films may not precice, the premiers are usually correct.

Hverfisgata 54 Laugarás Álfabakka 8 Smáralind Kringlan 4-6 Phone: 551-9000 Phone: 553-2075 Phone: 587-8900 Phone: 564-0000 Phone: 588-0800 www.regnboginn.is www.laugarasbio.is www.sambio.is www.smarabio.is www.sambio.is PREMIERS: PREMIERS: PREMIERS: PREMIERS: PREMIERS: 3. sept. Harold and Kumar go to 3. sept. Dís 3. sept. Dís 3. sept. Dís White Caslte. 3. sept. Harold and Kumar go to White Caslte. 10. sept. Girl Next Door 10. sept. Girl Next Door 10. sept. Girl Next Door 10. sept. Anchorman. The Terminal. 10. sept. Anchorman. The Terminal. 17. sept. Man on Fire 17. sept. Anchorman 17. sept. Man on Fire 17. sept. Wicker Park 17. sept. Wicker Park 24. sept. Whie Chicks 24. sept. Collateral 24. sept. White Chicks 24. sept. The Princess Diaries 2. Still running: Still running: Still running: 24. sept. The Princess Diaries 2. Collateral Collateral Notebook, Garfi eld, Hellboy, I Ro- Bourne Supremacy, The Stepford Notebook, Garfi eld, Hellboy, Still running: bot, Dirty Dancing 2, Spider-Man 2 Wives, Fahrenheit 9/11 I Robot, Dirty Dancing 2 Still running: Garfield/Grettir (dubbed) Spider-Man 2 The Bourne Supremacy, Thunder- The Prince and Me, Thunderbirds birds, Catwomen, The Village, New Madditt 2 (dubbed) The Village York Minute, King Arthur, Shrek 2

Hagatorg Phone: 530-1919 www.haskolabio.is PREMIERS: 10. sept. The Terminal 17. sept. Midsommer 24. sept. Collateral Still running: American Indi festival: Before Sunset, Shape of Things, My First Mister, Saved!, Capt. the Friedmans, Spellbound, Coffee & Cigarettes, Ken Park, Super Size Me. The Bourne Supr., Thunderbirds, The Village, Good bye, Lenin! 24 YE OLDE ICELAND IS BACK IN ACTION by Marcie Hume

The first time I met an Icelandic boy, I Googled him. Typing in his nationality, what Google gave me was a webpage that displayed men in strange make-up and costumes, portraying characters called Meat Hook and Door Slammer. I was terrified and entranced and bamboo- zled. It was Icelandic culture brought to life. The photos were courtesy of the magic of the country’s population, the living conditions of each National Museum, who had at one time created family, and, thankfully, a full count of livestock too. a nice visual to accompany the history of the The exhibition covers 2,000 square metres Christmas Lads. This is their forte: bringing ye olde of space, and will be a permanent component of Iceland to you. And so this tradition continues as the museum, along with two spaces for varying the museum opens anew on the 1st of September. exhibitions, a lecture hall, shop and café. Initially It has been closed for 6 years, undergoing extensive there were rumours of an enormous sword standing renovations, and will now boast a walk-through permanently outside the museum, but those plans exhibit that extensively covers Iceland’s 1200 years are on hold for now. of civilised history, along with the thousands of The new permanent exhibition is described historical objects in the museum’s collection. by the museum as “an exciting journey through It is unclear whether or not the museum time,” which is in the same ballpark as “an exciting was missed by the general public. Were people afternoon at the farm”. I happen to love Icelandic wandering around with no sense of cultural history, farms, and find them terribly exciting places to visit. wondering “Vhere can I get my next hit of Wiking So, if traipsing through Icelandic history sounds like trivia?” Regardless, the last 6 years are in the past fun to you, then the National Museum is, as any and Icelandic history is, once again, back for the good tourist rag would say, a must-see. people. The admission is a brutish 600Kr, but there are Among the many areas covered are the recent half-off discounts for seniors, students, and the H.S. research on DNA taken from bones from the first disabled. Visitors under 18 are given free admission. centuries of settlements, “restored heathen graves” (And if you’re just dying to see what my very (which has a sort of Disneyland-Haunted-House first taste of Icelandic culture was, see the following: vibe), and findings from a community that was http://jol.ismennt.is/english/christmas-lads- buried in mount Hekla’s eruption in 1104. You can museum.htm.) also see the 1703 census which documented the

����� ARTS andCULTURE

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum “A SLICE OF THE MOON” Isle Hessner is considered a pioneer of contemporary Greenlandic art. Her sculptures explore the search for a permanent image in an ever-changing present, which is impossible, but no one’s going to argue with a Greenland- er. The aim of the exhibition is to encourage personal con- nections and mutual understanding between the countries it visits, and strengthen the self-image of Greenlanders and ties between Nordic countries. The exhibition begins 11th September.

101 Gallery by Elín Petersdóttir “FRÉTTATILKYNNING” Steingrímur Eyfjörð explores folklore via examination of The room is large and the lighting has been dimmed. satire is obvious and recognizable in 2004. It easily feral children… that is, children fostered by beasts. In On each wall there is a rectangular square whereupon stands the test of more than two hundred years. Icelandic folk tales, these children are especially connected two video installations are being shown, side by side, so I head for the last exhibit, Katrín Sigurðardóttir’s to animals, which were said to be spellbound humans, such that at first I think it is one picture. installation. Her delicate yet striking work demands as polar bears and seals. There are also stories of children who are replaced by fairies and or made into giants by Looking, breathing, thinking, the effect is physical. attention and cautious consideration. Made of partly ogresses in the Icelandic wilderness. As the essay musings suggest, there is a tangible gigantic, partly minute square pieces it forms a element of time. Moving and/or standing still, but labyrinth, flowing from one room to another, in many Reykjavík Art Museum, Hafnarhúsið undeniably present. This is Finnur Arnar’s Installation ways creating a spatial continuum of Finnur Arnar’s on the bottom floor of Hafnarhúsið. time travel. Other visitors rush past me, seeming to VARIOUS ARTISTS I head on up to look at Los Caprichos by Francisco think that it leads to something, only to find that there Down by the water, you can find new works by Francisco de Goya, Katrín Sigurðardóttir and Finnur Arnar Arnar- de Goya. Los Caprichos is a series of 80 engravings. is no conclusion. son. The building is one of the most interesting in the A collection remarkable not only for its sheer volume, city, so if you don’t like the art, you can always explore the or the amazing display of luminosity and darkness Finnur Arnar Arnarson outstanding bathrooms. always found in Goya’s work, but also for its audacity. Francisco de Goya It is daring, it is overwhelming and unapologetic. The Katrín Sigurðardóttir depictions are people - and fairy tale creatures - at their At Listasafn Rekjavíkur, Hafnarhús Aug. 21 to GALLERY SÆVAR KARL worst. Even for those, such as myself, who are unaware Oct.3rd. In the basement of the shop you can find a constant rota- of what the Spanish political climate was in 1797 the tion of artists (currently the works of Preben Boye and Haukur Dór), as well as works displayed all over the shop. If you missed Sævar Karl himself giving out hand-deco- rated hats on Culture Night, you can get an idea of his cultural and artistic prowess (just ignore the clothes) at The visitor´s KEY to ICELAND saevarkarl.is. Its saga and scenery Iceland is a country of Gallery i8 Over 400 colour photographs great and unusual A complete ROAD AND REFERENCE natural beauty. Every THE ICELANDIC LOVE GUIDE turn in the road, every CORPORATION change in the weather The name of the exhibition is “Cardiac Circus”, which Including the highlands and all presents a new and sounds great and reminds me of that time I tried to go mountain roads fascinating aspect. jogging down by the water on a windy day. These nutty girls will be showing from 9 September. as: “Island Atlas” Also A Detailed maps of the entire Icelandic road system

vailable in German Street maps of towns and villages Nordic House, September 6th-9th Maps of numbered mountain tracks Map of golf courses MAN + FISH + WOMAN Classified list of advertisers Discussion and lectures which will focus on two different Index of 3,000 place names subjects, gender difference and the fishing industry in Japan and Iceland. Speakers are scholars and professors, Information on accommodation, petrol stations, etc. both Icelandic and Japanese. Eight university students And much, much more from Tokyo are coming specially to Iceland to attend the Available in bookstores and petrol stations around Iceland conference. For more info call Stöng Publishing House – Tel.: + 354 554 77 00 25 YE OLDE ICELAND The camera Katrín Elvarsdót- tir worked with for her current Your show is named Holga. It’s a IS BACK IN ACTION plastic camera made in China, one Memories of several that she uses, all with female names. You can’t choose Holga’s shutter speed, and there is Look Like a common problem of light leaking in. In fact, looking at the finished product, it’s almost impossible to This believe that this series came from what is: through and through, a toy camera. by Marcie Hume

The exhibition is comprised of H.S. no edge to the photograph, and no of an object or place, and the overall long prints made of images that distinct shape where the light ends fragmented result of observation. seem sewn together. Each print fabric and border begins. “I only advance Each instant of perception has made features one subject, but is made of behind them. The general the film maybe one-quarter of the its own mark in comparison with various shots from slightly differing effect is entrancing and eerie, turning quick glances way after each picture, so the sides the last, as the movement of time viewpoints. The photographs are a common sight into something both blurred over one another. of each frame overlap as the film is shows itself in the progression of the both instinctively striking and bizarre and stunning. There is no objective view of the exposed.” images. unsettling because there is no frame “I thought about my own scene, but a kind of movement with “I definitely know what I’m Observing the nuances of an of reference; it is unnatural to see experiences, or other people’s several splintered views. looking for,” she explains, “and I kind object, or noticing it in several ways something as though you are in experiences and how they think At a time when everyone is of see how it will look in my mind as at once, reminds us what a profound several places at once. about them afterwards,” Katrín says Photoshop-happy, it is easy to I shoot it, but there’s also a definite effect perspective has on the But each one, in its total effect, about the creation of this series, assume that these pieces were element of chance.” The side of each perception of our surroundings. This is like seeing a memory. There is “…how you remember things in your created with some kind of digital frame is permanently blended into exhibition, for its unusual beauty a forest, but it is a forest as you head, or how you remember a certain experimentation. But it all happens the next as she shoots, so the finished and its absolute fluency, is not to be might remember seeing it as a day.” within the plastic walls of Holga. product is chosen out of the entire missed. child, through various glimpses of These pieces also bring attention “I took out the little box behind strip of film. There is no touching up the infinite limbs reaching down, to the act of perceiving; they are, in the shutter that usually dictates the or rearranging. Katrín Elvarsdóttir’s exhibit looming and endless, with a strange essence, an elongated moment. They shape of the photograph,” Katrín The photographs also serve to “Memory” will be at Hafnarborg shade of sky stretched out like heavy show seeing as it is, with several explains. The result is that there is give each moment its full attention, Institute of Culture and Fine Art focusing on both the intricate details until 20th September. ARTS andCULTURE LISTINGS : september 3 - september 30 Want to be seen in the listings? Send us a mail Exhibition by Hildur Bjarnadóttir and Hafdís Hel- Icelandic art and crafts. Ends September 5. childrens and a comic book section. to [email protected] and your event will be gadóttir ends September 12 Gallery smíðar og skart Gallery Fold announced in the next issue, and the best thing The National Museum of Iceland Sun-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat: 10:00-16:00 Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00 Sat 11:00-17:00 Sun SATURDAY is that being in the listings is free! New permanent exhibitions, giving a comprehen- Selection of fine art, both functional and sculp- 14:00-17:00 sive picture of Iceland’s cultural history through the tural. Ceramics, paintings and graphics. One of the largest Galleries in Iceland, works by SEPTEMBER 11 ages to the present day. The exhibitions will cover Volcano show: Red rock cinema many know artists. National Gallery of Iceland ONGOING 2000 m2 and be an exciting journey through time. 11:00-22:00 every day Gallery Meistari Jakob New exhibition starts by Guðmunda Andrésdóttir. Kjarvalsstaðir Art Museum Hafnarborg Art Gallery If you don’t want to wait for the next volcanic erup- Mon-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-14:00 10:00-17:00 every day Wed-Sun 11:00-17:00 tion, then just go watch a video of the last, it’s less The gallery is run by eleven artists who work in ce- SUNDAY “Two exhibition: Ragna Róbertsdóttir - Retrospec- Photoexhibition by Katrín Elvarsdóttir. And also the dangerous and much more reliable then nature. ramics, textiles, printmaking and paintings and you tive, The artist’s first retrospective in Iceland. SEPTEMBER 19 exhibition Modern Women by five jewelrydesigners Admission 750ISK. will always find one of them at the gallery. Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum Róbertsdóttir has worked extensively with the from Denmark. ends September 20 Gallery Kolbrún S. Kjarval Gallery Tukt qualities of Icelandic stone, lava, pumice and Lecture: Writer Guðbergur Bergsson gives a talk on Kjarvalsstaðir Art Museum Uniquely designed, hand-made ceramics. Mon-Thu 13:00-18:00, Fri 13:00 - 17:00 Goya’s Los Caprichos. In Icelandic. earth. And Works from the Kjarval Collection also 10:00-17:00 every day Ásmundarsafn, Sculpture museum Various artists. at Kjarvalsstaðir.” Two exhibition: Ragna Róbertsdóttir - Retrospective, 13:00-16:00 every day Teddi - Workshop Gallery Skuggi The artist’s first retrospective in Iceland. Róberts- The Man and Material. A retrospective exhibition of 10:00-18:00 every day FRIDAY Thu-Sun 13:00-17:00 dóttir has worked extensively with the qualities of works by Asmundur Sveinsson. Open workshop of tree sculptures of Teddi. SEPTEMBER 24 Exhibition ‘Imaginary Realities’ by Astrid Kruse Icelandic stone, lava, pumice and earth. And Works Jensen Danish artist working with video and Telecommunications Museum Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum from the Kjarval Collection also at Kjarvalsstaðir. Tue,Thu&Sun 11:00-17:00 Nordisk Panorama Out Of Category Films. Photography SATURDAY Sigurjón Ólafsson Sculpture Museum Pictures and items related to the history of tele- Gallery of the Icelandic printmakers as- Tue-Sun 14:00-17:00 communications. SEPTEMBER 4 sociation September 3rd - 5th: Sigurjón Ólafsson´s works in Reykjavík Zoo and Family Park Gallery Skuggi SATURDAY Tue-Sun 14:00-18:00 public space. Sept 6th - 10th: Closed. Open from 10:00-18:00 every day Opening exhibition ‘Imaginary Realities’ by Astrid SEPTEMBER 25 Exhibition by Soffía Sæmundsdóttir, ends 19 sept. September 11th at 14:00 A Slice of the Moon: Icelandic horse and sheep, along with local variet- Kruse Jensen Danish artist working with video and Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum Also exhibiton by Benitikt Lafleur starts 25 sept. Travelling exhibition with sculptures and reliefs by ies other animals in the zoo. Right beside it is the Photography. Nordisk Panorama Out Of Category Films. National Gallery of Iceland the Greenlandic artist Isle Hessner. park, which has activities for the whole family. Austurbær Sigurjón Ólafsson Sculpture Museum 11:00-17:00 every day 101 Gallery Reykjavík Botanical Garden The musical Hair: Is known world over for its catchy Greenlandic Drum Dance, performed by Jessie Glass art, show of works given by Sweden. 63 Exhibition by Halldór Björn Runólfsson, see details 10:00-22:00 every day music and hippie ambiance. Kleemann. A part of the exhibition A Slice of the glass works by many of Swedens best known in picks. All kinds of plants and flowers on display. Moon with sculptures by, also Greenlandic artist , artists. Also works by Guðmunda Andrésdóttir. Culture House Einar Jónsson Sculpture Museum Isle Hessner Guðmunda was one of Icelands foremost abstract 11:00-17:00 every day SUNDAY atrist.Works by Guðmunda Andrésdóttir. Guðmun- Tue-Sun 14:00-17:00 Exhibition entitled The Poetic Edda. The exhibition Works of Einar Jónsson, Iceland´s first sculptor. SEPTEMBER 5 da was one of Icelands foremost abstract atrist. SUNDAY is intended to provide visitors with some insights Changes in opening hours around 16 sept. Open Kjarvalsstaðir Art Museum Starts September 25. into these ancient poems. Many of Iceland’s only Sat-Sun 14:00-17:00. Gallery Talk: Ragna Róbertsdóttir and Sabine Russ SEPTEMBER 26 Gallery i8 national treasures are on display in the Culture Museum of Medical History lead a tour of the exhibition. Sabine Russ is an Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum Wed-Fri 11:00-17:00, 13:00-17:00 Sat. House’s featured exhibition Medieval Manuscripts Sun,Tue,Thu,Sat 13:00-17:00 American critic and curator and the author of an Nordisk Panorama Out Of Category Films. Exhibition by The Icelandic Love Corporation “Car- – Eddas and Sagas. Exhibition Home Rule 1904. essay on Róbertsdóttir’s art. In English. Artifacts, tools, instruments and pictures on the Sigurjón Ólafsson Sculpture Museum diac Circus”, details in picks. Hafnarfjörður Museum subject. Austurbær Greenlandic Drum Dance, performed by Jessie Gerðuberg Cultural Center 13:00-17:00 every day Numismatic Collection of the Central Bank The musical Hair: Is known world over for its catchy Kleemann. A part of the exhibition A Slice of the Mon-Fri 11:00-19:00, Sat-Sun 13:00- In the main exhibitions you can see the constant Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00, Closed 12:00-13:00. music and hippie ambiance. Moon with sculptures by, also Greenlandic artist , 17:00. exhibition “Thus it was…” where the history of Icelandic coins and banknotes. ends September Isle Hessner Folk artist Sigurður Einarsson: Sigurður exhibits Hafnarfjörður and its neighbourhood from vikings 30 THURSDAY Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum oil on Masonite. Other exhibition, Landscape to our time. Lecture: Art historian Eva Heisler gives a talk on architect Reynir Vilhjálmsson - Seminar and Icelandic Institute of Natural History SEPTEMBER 9 Árbæjarsafn, Folk Museum Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun 13:00-17:00 the art of Katrín Sigurðardóttir. In English. retrospective: The seminar is in icelandic. The Winter: Guided tours scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays Háskólabíó Geological, botanical and zoological exhibits, dis- retrospective exhibition contains drawings and and Fridays at 13:00. Guided tours for groups by arrange- Opening Gala concert - Icelandic symphony or- photographies. playing the nature of Iceland. chestra. MONDAY ment. Saga Museum Gallery Sævar Karl Árbæjarsafn, Folk Museum is Reykjavík City´s folk SEPTEMBER 27 Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00 museum and the largest open air museum in Ice- 10:00-16:00 every day. Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum The Saga museum intimately recreates key mo- FRIDAY Exhibition by Preben Boye and Haukur Dór. land. Outside the summer season, guided tours of Nordisk Panorama Out Of Category Films. Safn the museum are scheduled on Mondays, Wednes- ments in Icelandic history and gives a compelling SEPTEMBER 10 Wed-Fri 14:00-18:00. Sat&Sun 14:00- days and Fridays at 13:00. Guided tours for groups view into how Icelanders have lived and thought for Culture House 17:00 by arrangement. ends September 3 more than a millenium. The wintertime theme exhibit The Poet of the TUESDAY Exhibition by The German painter Katharina Handverk og Hönnun Reykjavík City Library Month resumes with an exhibition about the author SEPTEMBER 28 Grosse ends 25 sept. Two exhibition opens 11 Mon-Fri 09.00-16:00 Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00 Gunnar Gunnarsson. At the opening ceremony the Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum september, by Pieter Holstein (1934) “Hollland” Summer Exhibition of contemporary and traditional Books and periodicals in Icelandic as well as Eng- singer Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir (Diddú) sings a newly Nordisk Panorama Out Of Category Films. and other by Ívar Valgarðsson (1954) “Ísland”. lish, Scandinavian and other languages. Also has a composed sonnet to lyrics by Gunnar. Also artists’ most current works at the time of the museums purchase. The artists in Safn include: Donald Judd, On Kawara, Karin Sander, Lawrence Weiner, Dan Flavin, and Dieter Roth. Look no further for: Gallery Ófeigur Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 10:00-16:00 Comic Books Photoexhibition “Reykjavík with eyes of Gunnar Hannesson” b. 1915 d. 1976 ends September 8 Gerðarsafn, Kóparvogur Art Gallery Graphic Novels Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00. Upstairs two world faumous danish designers, Manga / Anime Börge Mogensen and Hans Wegner. Downstairs Action Figures many icelandic designers. Ends Sept. 19. Auglýsing Auglýsing Nýlistasafið, The Living Art Museum ALDREI - NIE - NEVER is an exhibition at three dif- Sci-Fi / Fantasy Paperbacks ferent locations featuring the works of 18 artists. ends September 13 Collectible Card Games Hafnarhúsið, Reykjavík Art Museum 10:00-17:00 every day Warhammer Four Exhibition: Finnur Arnar Arnarson a private exhibition: The artist’s new vision of the past, the future, the Role-Playing Games present. Katrin Sigurdardóttir: Private exhibition of the Icelandic artist Katrin Sigurdardottir. Francisco and more... Goya - Los Caprichos: The exhibition consist of 80 original prints from the plates in Madrid. The NEXUS Erró Collection - Aesthetics and Politics: Theme exhibition from the Erró Collection which aims to Hverfisgata 103 (near bus station Hlemmur) introduce different emphasis and aspects in the artist’s creation. Open mon-sat 12 to 19:30, sun 13-18. ASÍ museum Phones 552 9011 - 552 9012 Tue-Sun 14:00-18:00 26 REVENGE OF THE by Paul Fontaine-Nikolov DRUM NERDS I remember the first time I heard about the Sugarcubes. I was watching MTV, and some correspondent was in a club, yammering away about a band from Iceland touring the US. Behind him, said band was playing. Einar Örn was blasting a trumpet, Björk was dancing alongside him, and the rest of the band were acting comparitively normal. The music made a pretty good impression on me, and I still think they’re one of the better bands to come out of Iceland. Which is why, some fifteen years later and in a band of my own, I was kind of surprised to hear that I was going to be recording with the Sugarcubes drummer, Sigtryggur Baldursson. I’m well aware of the fact that in Ice- from around the world, but it also Finding things which match the land, famous people are not treated includes “found material” - answer- groove covers a lot of ground, appar- with the same degree of fawning and ing machine messages will some- ently. Included in the recordings are adulation that they might get in oth- times act as vocals. The overall effect Inuit breath singing, Pygmy songs, er countries. I’ve gotten used to see- of listening to their CD, Dialog, is oud and sithar playing, a Polish “rap- ing nationally and even internation- that one is hearing a collage. per/singer” and old Icelandic “rímur”, ally acclaimed Icelandic celebrities I met up with the pair to talk as well as the singers recorded at standing behind me in supermarket about the origins of this project, and the Crailo refugee camp. All this lines, counting their krónur and flip- the process it entails. recorded material was made to fit ping through gossip magazines. But the pre-recorded grooves and was, when you, an amateur musician, are How did the two of you get in Sigtryggurs words, “edited to told that in a couple of days you’re together? hell and back. But still, there’s a red to record with a veteran musician of “Steingrimur owned a drum shop thread running through all of the medium-level international fame, it that I used to visit back in 1989 and songs, a common tone which unites H.S . puts pressure on you. Still, I kept in ‘90,” says Sigtryggur, “and we were, them all.” mind that we’re all professionals here and still are, big fans of world music. Would you consider this world and and, acclaim or not, what counts is Steingrímur had been studying the music? Would it be of interest to ����� MUSIC NIGHTLIFE their ability; not their reputation. tabla for years at that point. When non-drummers? Bar 11, September 23rd , 22:00 the Sugarcubes folded, we put “Yes I do think this’ll be of inter- Time´s up together a band called the Million- est to non-drummers,” says Sigtryg- GUÐKRIST It turned out that Sigtryggur was aires (with Páll Óskar) and later on, gur, “The music is so varied and Twice, sometimes three times a year, the greatest only able to record between ten we created a concept band which engaging. And I myself, even though guitarist Iceland has produced, God Christ, decides and twelve in the morning. He had was a 14-piece orchestra where none I’m a drummer and I can appreciate to play in public. Now in his late forties, he has been been given a copy of our demo, sans of the musicians were playing the listening to some good rhythms from mostly absent from the music scene for the past 18 drums. I sat in the studio with our instrument they had been trained time to time, I’m still sick of drum years, except for contributing guitar tracks on albums producer, a rehearsing bassist, and on. These things were fun, but the nerds, making drum circles on the by master Megas. Instead of playing guitar he has Valur - who has formed this group more we got to talking about music, beach. It drives me crazy.” concentrated his energies on cosmic and subnuclear out of the ashes of his previous band, the more we wanted to come up with “What is world music?,” asks harmonies. His best known works are with band Ríkið - going over the songs. At pre- something like what Steintryggur is Steingrimur, “It’s just music. People KUKL whose vocalist was Björk and earlier with cisely ten o’ clock, Sigtryggur showed now. get scared when they hear the term band ÞEYR, one of the first Icelandic bands to up. He walked straight to the drum “In the spring of 2002 we started ‘world music’ - they think it’s not for receive any attention abroad. His least known work kit, made a few minor adjustments recording, here in Iceland. Then I them” is perhaps an 11 track unreleased album he recorded and asked what the first song was. So moved to Holland and Steingrimur “I think world music is a record store with Björk back in 1986. He will be performing far, so good, I thought. This guy’s a would fly out to record with me. phenomenon,” jokes Sigtryggur, “I songs by most of his previous bands, along with some professional. No chatter, no bullshit, There was a refugee camp near mean, you need someplace to put all new compositions and arrangements of the old mas- just shut up and play. where I lived, and I would record that music, and it all gets lumped ters, among them Bach and Wagner. No Admission. But then I was told I was to give this singers there who were from Africa together under one category.” Grand Rokk, September 18th , 22:00 guy directions - where the verses and and the Middle East. It was actually “American pop music comes choruses were, when the song was a Dutch teacher who introduced me from so-called world music,” adds WORM IS GREEN & AMPOP “It’s a music of genuine, graceful wonder, like múm en- about to end and so forth. A little to the first singer we recorded at that Steingrimur, “from African rhythms gineered by pole while Björk nods her seal of approval in concerned, I began playing the first camp, which was called Crailo. We and European folk songs.” the background”. This was a reaction in one of the bigger song anyway and Sigtryggur began dedicated a song to that camp.” “You know, you’ll often see some guy music magazines in the UK after the release of Ampops 7”. to play along - at a markedly slower onstage with his laptop, tweaking Well, if Grapevine was a band, we would like such a review. rhythm. So what is Steintryggur? buttons,” says Sigtryggur. Maybe Worm is Green are no amateurs themselves and have At precisely twelve o’ clock, Sigtryg- “Every song begins with the groove he has a guitar with him too. But amongst many good things, released a memorably good gur put down his sticks and said, - drums and percussion,” Stein- I think this is the first time there’s cover of “Love will tear us apart”. Good stuff! “Time’s up.” He chatted briefly with grimur says, “I wanted to take Indian ever been two drummers onstage Austurbæjarbíó, September 19th , 20:00 us as he packed up, thanked us for rhythms and morph them into some- with a mixer. It’d be great if we could the session and left, only to come thing different, something different have completely live shows, but the BLONDE REDHEAD Blonde Redhead comes to Iceland in support of their back a few seconds later to borrow than the way tablas are normally logisitics of getting all these differ- newest release, Misery Is a Butterfly. Japanese front gas money. played. There’s one song that actually ent people from around the world woman, Kazu Makino, bedazzles with loopy vocals. Sigtryggur has paired up with started out as punk on tablas - “I - or from beyond the grave - to play Joined by Italian twins Simone and Amedeo Pace, Iceland’s only tabla player, Stein- Don’t Get It!”.” onstage together makes it impossible. the trio creates a stripped-down, dramatic sound but grimur Guðmundsson, to bring forth “The vocals for that song are All the same, I don’t think anything inevitably a very infectious groove. Tickets are avail- a music project never seen before. from a series of recordings of the like this has ever been done before.” able at 12 Tónar for kr. 3500. Steintryggur, as the project is called, comedian Jonathan Winters, who could be lumped into the “world would leave bizarre messages on his You can check out more about Steintryg- Gaukur á Stöng, September 4th , 23:30 music” category by the careless, manager’s answering machine,” adds gur at BREAKBEAT.IS although such a generalization Sigtryggur, “That’s how the process www.smekkleysa.net/steintryggur Dom & Roland is here, for the third time and wouldn’t do this project justice. True, was: we’d find vocals which matched though the name might mislead he is just one guy. it makes use of rhythms and voices that groove.” Dom & Roland is one of the bigger names in drum & bass and has been at it for around ten years hav- ing released three albums on Moving Shadow label alone. His latest work Chronology has received raving reviews. Opening for Dom & Roland are the Breakbeat.is DJ’s Kalli, Lelli, and Gunni Ewok. The fun starts at midnight. Grand Rokk, September 10th, 22:00 DREP 6 SAKTMÓÐIGUR Band Drep is new, in Iceland. It was founded in Denmark a few years back, but recently all of its members moved to Iceland. Among them is guitar- ist/bassist Flosi of HAM fame. Band Saktmóðigur awere founded in a little town called Laugarvatn in south Iceland about 10 years ago. The Janitor of the very building Saktmóðigur started rehearsing remembers their first year of rehearsals; “it was the most terrible noise I’d ever heard and for the first couple of times I heard them I thought something had crashed into the building”. Since then Sakt- móðigur have only become better and nowadays they are a terrific live experience. 27

Ego: the fine art of resurfacing by H.A.Jónsson Arguably, one of the highlights of in the new millenium middle-aged Guns of Brixton”. So far so good. live arena. It most certainly was Nonetheless, their afterlife has just Reykjavík’s recent so-called Culture Utangarðsmenn mostly seemed Thereafter the classics followed fast their biggest – an estimated crowd been prolonged. Night was the reunion of Egó – one to frighten pensioners and small and furiously: “Stórir Strákar Fá of 80.000 attended. As for them of the biggest Icelandic rock acts of children alike with their dated (this Raflost”; “Móðir”; a legitimate cover being able to top their classic the early to mid-‘80s. was prior to 9/11) cold war choruses of Utangarðsmenn’s anti-nuclear “Ímynd” LP – the verdict is still out. Then and now, led by Bubbi a la “Þið munuð öll, þið munuð öll, anthem “Hiroshima” (frightened Morthens – the Icelandic þið munuð öll...deyja!” (“You’re all children included) and, of course, Springsteen, if one must draw going to, you’re all going to, you’re all “Fjöllin Hafa Vakað”. A good time up any kind of in-the-ballpark going to...die!”). Clearly, their timing was had by everyone, which was comparison – Ego recorded three wasn’t right. concluded with a countdown to the uneven albums between 1982 and Egó, however, was always a much fabulous fireworks display. ’84. Their strongest effort, without more sophisticated affair than As with nearly all reunions from a doubt, is their second, “Ímynd” (a Utangarðsmenn. They also had the Eagles to the Sex Pistols, there’s wordplay, of sorts, the title could be better tunes and many of the lyrics always something a little sad about translated both as “Image” as well were barking mad, a fact not entirely middle-aged ex-rebels trying to as “In Focus”), which contains one lost on Bubbi today who blames the recapture lost youth – and, in the of their best-loved anthems “Fjöllin heavy substance abuse which also process, balance their bank accounts Hafa Vakað” (“The Mountains Have tore the band apart in the end. But – although, needless to add, there Stayed Awake”), which still receives Bubbi & Co. claim this reunion, wouldn’t be a platform for such frequent radio airplay today. which debuted during the banking things unless the public didn’t But Egó isn’t Bubbi’s first band to holiday weekend celebrations in demand their fix of nostalgia as well. be resurrected two decades after the Westman Islands earlier this There’s also the embarrassing matter it disbanded. A few years back, summer, is no one night stand; of revisiting old themes in the Utangarðsmenn (or the Outsiders, they’re here to stay this time around tradition of “I hope I die before I as they were poorly introduced to and have even threatened a new get old”, “I can’t get no satisfaction” the, uh, outside world), Bubbi’s first album sometime in the not-too- and “Rebel Rebel”, which can prove proper band, toured the country to distant future. to be a tad difficult to get through mixed reviews and not-so-muted But the Culture Night concert gracefully. Few have succeeded accusations of selling out. was Egó’s first concert appearance shamelessly. Originally having led the Icelandic in the nation’s capital for roughly Several days after the successful punk/new wave explosion of the late twenty years. The all-too-short affair, Bubbi himself claimed that ‘70s/early ‘80s, which, lest we forget, set opened with a fine cover of the warm August night by the harbour also bore and bred our beloved Björk, Clash’s fantastic faux reggae “The to be Egó’s finest moment in the MUSICandNIGHTLIFE LISTINGS : september 3 - september 30

Music and nightlife events usually start around Café Rósenberg: Musician Rúnar Þór plays Kaffibarinn: DJ Benni 21:00, unless otherwise stated. Pubs close at SEPTEMBER 8 SEPTEMBER 13 Cohen songs Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco 01.00 on weekdays and much, much later on Café Rósenberg: A five piece danish Jazz. Dubliners: Troubadour Andy Garcia Kaffibarinn: DJ Benni Dubliners: Troubadour Th Fitzgerald Café Victor: DJ DeeJay weekends. For those just wanting to party, the Felix: DJ Doktorinn pubs and clubs don´t get crowded until after Kapital: DJ Mezziah Sirkus: DJ Rósa TUESDAY Sirkus: DJ Gísli Galdur midnight on weekends, although Thursday is a WEDNESDAY Kapital: DJ Gummi Gonzalez semi-official night out. Prikið: Live music SEPTEMBER 14 Dubliners: Troubadour BT SEPTEMBER 22 Prikið: DJ KGB Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Nelly´s: DJ Nonni 900 Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Dubliners: Troubadour Th Fitzgerald Kaffibarinn: DJ Gísli Galdur Pravda Barinn: University night, beer for 350ISK Prikið: Live Music Café Sólon: DJ Svali FRIDAY Dubliners: Troubadour Bjarni Tryggva Nasa: Icelands premium retro rock band Jet SEPTEMBER 3 WEDNESDAY Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Black Joe plays tonight. Dubliners: Band Spilafíklarnir plays covers THURSDAY Pravda Barinn: University night, beer for 350ISK Café Rósenberg: Jazzband Glymskrattarnir Gaukur á Stöng: Bands; Spilabandið Runólfur & SEPTEMBER 15 a.k.a. The Jukeboxs’ play tonight, young guys, Oxford. DJ Master. SEPTEMBER 9 Prikið: Live Music great musicians. Café Victor: 1664 Night Coverband “Sex Volt” plays Dubliners: Troubadour BT Dubliners: The Little Drummerboys band Amsterdam: Café Culture: Band BB Trio THURSDAY DJ Andri Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Ari í Ögri: Troubadour duet Acoustics Sirkus: Kaffi List: Band Spilabandið Runólfur plays DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga Pravda Barinn: University night, beer for 350ISK SEPTEMBER 23 Celtic Cross: Upst.: Troubadour Pravda Barinn: Grand Rokk: Bands Líkn & Nr.0 Café Victor: 1664 Night DJ Áki Pain Downst.: Live coverband Pravda Club: Café Rósenberg: Bluesman John Mitchell plays Bar 11: 22:00 Guitar genius Godkrist from bands DJ Daddi Disco Thorvaldsen bar: Prikið: DJ Biggi from band Maus KUKL and ÞEYR plays, see picks for details DJ DeeJay THURSDAY Café Victor: Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco DJ Doktorinn SUNDAY Hverfisbar: Sirkus: DJ Einar Sonic SEPTEMBER 16 Kaffibarinn: DJ Frosti DJ Gísli Galdur 1664 Night Prikið: Café Sólon: Green room session; DJ’s Tommi Café Victor: Sirkus: DJ Kári SEPTEMBER 26 DJ KGB Kaffibarinn: White & Andrés Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Jón Forseti: Karaoke night Dubliners: Troubadour Andy Garcia DJ Kiddi Bigfoot DJ Rósa Kapital: Jón Forseti: Karaoke night Prikið: Dubliners: Troubadour Bjarni Tryggva Nelly´s: Troubadour Night DJ Matti Green room session; DJ’s Tommi Café 22: Dubliners: Troubadour BT Café Sólon: Café Rósenberg: Vocalist Andrea Gylfa and gui- DJ Palli Maus White & Andrés Kaffi List: Hverfisbar: Troubadour duet Bítlarnir tarist Gummi P play and sing tonight DJ Svali Karaoke night Café Sólon: Kapital: Troubadour Magni from band “Á móti Sól” Jón Forseti: MONDAY Vegamót: DJ’s Erna & Ellen Dubliners: Troubadour BT Nelly´s: Troubadour Night SEPTEMBER 27 De Boomkikker: Heavy Metal DJ’s Nelly´s: Troubadour Night FRIDAY Dubliners: Troubadour Andy Garcia Mojito Club: Lounch music Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Café Culture: NixNolte band plays FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 24 Nelly´s: Troubadour Night FRIDAY Klink og bank artist workplace: Bands; Skak- Ari í Ögri: Troubadours Halli & Kalli SEPTEMBER 10 kamanage and NixNolte play Prikið: 21:00 Búðarbandið. 23:00 DJ KGB SEPTEMBER 17 Pravda Barinn: DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga TUESDAY Celtic Cross: Upst.: Troubadour. Downst.: Live Band “Box of Rocks” plays tonight Café Rósenberg: Band Hraun, see picks Nelly´s: Pravda Club: DJ Áki Pain coverband DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga SEPTEMBER 28 Pravda Barinn: DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga Pravda Barinn: Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Nelly´s: Troubadour Night DJ Áki Pain Kaffibarinn: DJ Árni E Pravda Club: Café Victor: DJ DeeJay Dubliners: Troubadour Th Fitzgerald DJ Árni E Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Kaffibarinn: Felix: DJ Doktorinn SATURDAY DJ Daddi Disco Café Victor: DJ DeeJay Thorvaldsen bar: Prikið: DJ Kári DJ Daði SEPTEMBER 4 Hverfisbar: DJ Doktorinn Prikið: Kaffibarinn: DJ Gísli Galdur WEDNESDAY DJ DeeJay Kapital: Back to school: DJ Gummi Gonzalez Kapital: DJ Kiddi Bigfoot Café Victor: Sirkus: DJ KGB DJ Doktorinn SEPTEMBER 29 Gaukur á Stöng: Breakbeat.is night; DJ Dom & Felix: DJ Le Shef Felix: Kapital: DJ Kiddi Bigfoot DJ Kiddi Bigfoot Prikið: Live Music Roland & DJ Ewok Amsterdam: DJ Steini Kapital: Nelly´s: DJ Nonni 900 DJ Maggi Legó Dubliners: The Monkey Amsterdam: Coverband “Sex Volt” plays Café Sólon: DJ Svali Sirkus: Amsterdam: DJ Steini DJ Svali Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Pravda Club: DJ Áki Pain Pravda Club: DJ Valdi Café Sólon: Café Sólon: DJ Svali Heavy Metal DJ’s Pravda Barinn: University night, beer for 350ISK Pravda Barinn: DJ Brynjar Már Grand Rokk: Bands Drep and Sagtmóðigur play, De Boomkikker: De Boomkikker: Heavy Metal DJ’s Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco see picks for details. Amsterdam: Rockband 101 plays covers Café Rósenberg: Mike and Danny Pollock and he The FM Hnakki gathering; DJ Café Victor: DJ DeeJay De Boomkikker: Heavy Metal DJ’s Gaukur á Stöng: Smokey Bay blues band play. Paul Oscar, Love Guru and Nylon THURSDAY Hverfisbar: DJ Doktorinn Nelly´s: Icelandic popmusic night & beer drinking Dubliners: The Little Drummerboys band Kaffi List: DJ Heidi competition Dubliners: The Romanoff band Celtic Cross: Upst.: Troubadour SEPTEMBER 30 Troubadours Halli & Kalli Café Victor: 1664 Night Nasa: DJ Ísi Gaukur á Stöng: Jack Live: Live rock bands. Ari í Ögri: Downst.: Live coverband Upst.: Troubadour Kaffibarinn: DJ Árni E Café Culture: DJ Kristín Café Culture: Jazz gig Celtic Cross: Downst.: Live coverband Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Sirkus: DJ Maggi Legó Mojito Club: Lounch music Prikið: DJ Rósa Kaffibarinn: DJ Natalie Ari í Ögri: Troubadour duet Acoustics SATURDAY Café Sólon: Green room session; DJ’s Tommi Café 22: DJ Palli Maus Celtic Cross: Upst.: Troubadour. Downst.: Live Café Sólon: DJ Svali SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 25 White & Andrés coverband Band Buff plays covers. Prikið: DJ’s Daði & Jói Gaukur á Stöng: Jón Forseti: Karaoke night Dubliners: Vocalist Ruth Reginalds makes her SEPTEMBER 18 Band Oxford plays covers Vegamót: DJ’s KGB & Jöri Amsterdam: Dubliners: The Monkey debut after recent plastic surgery Café Culture: Band NixNolte plays DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga De Boomkikker: Heavy Metal DJ’s Pravda Barinn: Grand Rokk: Bands Worm is Green and Ampop Pravda Club: DJ Áki Pain Mojito Club: Lounch music play tonight, see picks for details Nelly´s: Troubadour Night SATURDAY Nelly´s: Beer drinking competition, finals Ari í Ögri: Troubadours Halli & Kalli SEPTEMBER 11 Pravda Barinn: DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga Celtic Cross: Upst.: Troubadour. Downst.: Live Amsterdam: Band Buff plays covers Pravda Club: DJ Áki Pain coverband Café Rósenberg: Band Hraun play fun stuff Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Gaukur á Stöng: Coverband “Á Móti Sól” plays Café Victor: DJ DeeJay Pravda Barinn: DJ Atli Skemmtanalögga Felix: DJ Doktorinn SUNDAY Thorvaldsen bar: DJ Daddi Disco Kapital: DJ Gummi Gonzalez SEPTEMBER 5 Café Victor: DJ DeeJay Prikið: DJ Jói Grand Rokk: Band Indigo and solo artist Siggi Felix: DJ Doktorinn Sirkus: DJ Kári Ármanns play. Siggi Ármann is Sigurrós’s favorite Kapital: DJ Gummi Gonzalez Kaffibarinn: DJ KGB and last year the whole band showed up and Kaffibarinn: DJ Kári Café Sólon: DJ Svali played with him. Sirkus: DJ KGB De Boomkikker: Heavy Metal DJ’s Café Rósenberg: Band; Misery Loves Company Hverfisbar: DJ Kiddi Bigfoot Nasa: Irish folk song band Papar play plays stuff of their own along with a few Tom Nelly´s: DJ Nonni 900 Amsterdam: Rockband 101 plays covers Waits numbers. Café Sólon: DJ SvaliAuglýsingDubliners: The Romanoff band Auglýsing Nasa: DJ Ísi Pravda Club: DJ Valdi Ari í Ögri: Troubadours Halli & Kalli Dubliners: Troubadour Ingvar Valgeirs De Boomkikker: Heavy Metal DJ’s Celtic Cross: Upst.: Troubadour. Downst.: Live Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Nasa: Icelands premium popband NýDönsk plays coverband tonight, unlike many Icelandic popbands, they are actually good. MONDAY Grand Rokk: Nix Nolte band plays tonight SUNDAY Ari í Ögri: Troubadour duet Acoustics SEPTEMBER 19 SEPTEMBER 6 Upst.: Troubadour. Downst.: Live Dubliners: Troubadour Ingvar Valgeirs Celtic Cross: Dubliners: Troubadour Ingvar V coverband Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Dubliners: Vocalist Ruth Reginalds makes her TUESDAY debut after recent plastic surgery MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20 Café Rósenberg: Charitygig: KK, Ellen Kristjáns Dubliners: Troubadour Ingvar V and band Santiago SEPTEMBER 12 Nelly´s: Troubadour Night DJ Biggi from band Maus Nelly´s: Troubadour Night Prikið: Dubliners: Troubadour Andy Garcia Dubliners: Troubadour Th Fitzgerald TUESDAY WEDNESDAY MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21 28 albums SEPTEMBER

A WELL-LAID MAN The independent music store 12 Tónar will be releasing Mugison´s Niceland soundtrack in early September. The will also release Þórir´s debut album, I Believe in This, which is said to be in the style of Bonnie IS A HAPPY MAN Prince Billy, Eliot Smith, Nick Drake and others. Sónet will be releasing four albums. They start off with singer-songwriter KK´s album Upphafið (The Beginning), comprised of previously by Beerman illustration: Þorsteinn Davíðsson unreleased recordings he made in Sweden before his debut album Lucky One. The album includes Professor Washboard on percussion and Derrick Big Walker on harmonica. Punk band Fræbbblarnir will celebrate their 25th anniversary by releasing an album of new material. An album featuring the songs of playwright and lyricist Ólafur Haukur Símonarson will also come out at the same time. The irrepressible Heiða will be among the performers as well as the aforementioned KK. Sónet´s month finishes up with Gunnar Kvaran and Elísabet Waage releasing an album of classical works by Schubert, Bach and others. Skífan will be releasing two compilations, Meira sítt að aftan, sequel to Sítt að aftan, a sorely needed double compilation of 80´s hits, none of them Icelandic. Later in the month we will also get to see a compilation of children´s songs, called Besta barnaplatan í öllum heiminum. Their Christmas season will kick off somewhere around the beginning of October with the debut album by Pop Idol Kalli Bjarni. All the songs are new, a few of them penned by the man himself, and the summer hit Gleðitímar is said to be indicative of the overall mood. Bad Taste could not be reached, but rumour has it that Jan Mayen´s long awaited debut album, to be titles Jan Mayen: Home of the Indeed, will finally surface. the album BJÖRK MEDULLA

Do girls´ breasts grow bigger in the summer? Are they made out of some sort of material that ex- pands by volume when heated, like water does when it freezes? Goddamn this heatwave. How are you supposed to think about anything else when it’s a pair of perky ones this way, a pair of bouncy ones that, a pair of pretty ones all over.

You go over to Bæjarins bestu with bars, you feel more productive if you end? At least in the winter you can hot dog on your mind and by the can convince yourself you´re search- take some joy in the fact that every- time it´s your turn you´re no longer ing for inspiration. But I couldn´t one else is miserable too. Except the responding to commands from your take it anymore. The pressure got to beautiful, of course. But at least they belly region. Even cold beer in the me. I´d spend all day being rejected don´t flaunt their happiness quite as hot sun doesn´t make you any more by publishers and all evening being openly. Fuck ´em. Ah, but if only contented. Your beer gets hot as your rejected by women. I had to quit you could… heart turns cold just thinking about either one or the other. So I aban- Goddamn waitresses make you lose all the rejection waiting out there if doned my artistic career. your appetite every stinkin´ time. you let it anywhere near you. One It all comes down to the pursuit of Come over all jolly and bouncy, there false move, and there it is, noses happiness. And the pursuit of happi- to take your order, but if you asked turned up, lips quickly moving away, ness is the pursuit of sex. A well-laid for what you really wanted their pupils suddenly turning merciless man is a happy man, an unlaid man smile quickly fades away. That´s why and small. I hope it´s not true that is unhappy, no matter what else is no one ever says anything they really Entering uncharted territory your life flashes before your eyes going on. Money, power, poetry, art. mean. And sunglasses make everyone when you die. That´s all I´d see They´re all just shortcuts to sex. Of look cool, cause you can´t tell what In a recent interview, Björk said that now rock has turned 50, it has in a when I watch the playback. An end- course, if you have good looks, you they´re thinking. The window to the way become classical music itself. Where, then, does it go from here? less succession of rejections. don´t need all that. Which is why soul obscured, everyone´s a mysteri- Medulla may offer a clue. In an age where music is increasingly prepro- I wanted to be a writer once. A poet. the beautiful never amount to much. ous stranger in the sun. grammed with the aid of computers and market research, and autotuners An artiste of some sort. When you But at least they´re happy. Will this goddamn summer never can make any starlet with a pretty face stay in tune, the only logical course spend all your time hanging around Will this goddamn summer never end? of action may be to go back to the purity of the human voice. So Medulla, an album using only voices, is as cutting edge as it gets. Perhaps in order to go forward, music must first go back. Past do-wop, past barbershop quartets, past medieval hymns and Viking rímur, past even Homer singing his epics a cappella. Medulla seems like the sound of a lost civilisation. If they had pop music in Atlantis, this would be it. This is not easy listening. Who Is It and Triumph of the Heart are the only songs that even vaguely sound like they could ever be heard on the radio. It is not an album to listen to alone at night. It sounds like it could at any moment bring something out of the dark. But it is fresh and it is exciting and it sounds unlike anything you have ever heard before. Which is just what music should be, but very rarely is. The creative independence Björk won with her brilliant pop album Debut seems to have finally reached full fruition. Whereas most would try to follow up success by trying to repeat it, Björk enters uncharted territory. Where we see centuries, she blinks her eyes. With a palmful of stars she throws them like dice on the table. If our civilisation were to disappear overnight, and this were all that remained, it might not give an accurate picture of it. It would sound so much more exciting.

Valur Gunnarsson 29

by Jónas Moody We are on the brink of catastrophe in the backyard of 12 Tónar music shop. The crowd is growing anxious as Múm’s singer, Kristín, has yet to arrive, the sky is threatening a downpour of biblical proportions and the band’s million and one wires and gizmos strewn all over the grass make the rather romantic notion of singing in the rain a fiery death-wish. Like a superheroin in a vintage dress, Kristín comes swooping in with her accordion in tow and out of the chaos rises the subduing strains of Green Grass of Tunnel. Múm have grown in size. With the addition of a percussionist, in front of a blank movie screen intimacy of headphones, their music brass player and string player they creating a soundtrack for an unseen becomes a very personal experience have become a veritable orchestra. film. The stage was cluttered with capable of stirring a lot of emo- But orchestrated they are not. The instruments as before, but this time tion. And when the oddball in the stage is rife with movement, players there were other objects like a poodle audience hoots and claps at the moving to different instruments; lamp, tea candles, an old, peddle- beginning of a song or shouts out a Örvar drops his mouth piano and driven sewing machine, and two request, he breaks a real connection acrobats to the metallophone negoti- lovely, serpentine Victrolas placed on established between the musicians ating wires, tentatively balanced gui- a pedestal in the back, which have and the listeners--and he gets the tars, and other musicians knelt down become the band’s ad hoc mascots. stinky eye from Kristín. The future on the ground. It’s not so much What really cluttered up granny’s of the group seems rather uncertain. bedlam as kids playing around in the attic was not the curios, but the sheer There is a lot of interest in scoring a sandbox. Kristín moves to the back number of people who now comprise film, and Örvar and Kristín will go corner, smashes herself against the Múm. Despite the number of musi- to Prague for film school next year. wall, and coos into a telephone-cum- cians, the band manages to maintain Gunni will stay in Iceland to pursue microphone. It would be pretentious a very simple sound. “With a lot his own projects. “I’m happy to be [in in any other context, but the balmy of people, we can concentrate and Iceland] now. This is a strange place sounds emitted from this seeming do small things. It makes a better because it’s so small, but that’s really turmoil are nothing but earnest. soundscape.” the beauty of it. At certain point you have to leave and see what’s outside. “I think sometimes people are disap- The soundscape does become rather Then when you come back you pointed because we are not putting spartan at time, but never truly dis- just know there is something really on a show. We are not characters,” engages the listener. “Sometimes the special about home.” But there seems says Gunni, one of the founding best way to make music like ours is to be no doubt that the group will at members of the band. “Our music is to leave something out for others some point come together again and of the nature so that people will im- to fill in,” Gunni explains. Múm’s record. “We are changing but it’s not agine stuff...we don’t want to restrict music is certainly varied, especially a linear change. I can’t predict what the mood, just give people space with their latest album, Summer we will make next; I just know we are to create their own environments.” make good. Songs are part lullaby, getting better at imagining some- To this end, Bæjarbíó was the ideal part dirge, part sea shanty, but what thing and then making it happen.” venue for Múm’s final performance marks them all is how emotive they H.S. on their world tour. The band stood are. In the dark of the theater or the 30 ������������������������� FRY AND THE FAMILY STONE

by Ölvir Gíslason and Kjartan Guðmundsson Studies have shown that a surprisingly large number of men fantasise about having beautiful women dress them in an apron and chef ’s hat. We can almost guarantee that the only place in Reykjavík where you can make that dream come true is Café Ópera in Lækjar- gata.

Grapevine’s correspondents group were relieved, though, when arrived early in the evening so we they were informed that they were were practically the only guests allowed to smoke in the lounge there, but that would change soon. upstairs. While there, we chatted The first things that greeted us when with the Swedish engineer Inge we came up the stairs boded well Gunnar Jonsson, who complained for the evening ahead: A life-size bitterly about being relegated to the H.G. statue of an Afro-American clown attic to satisfy his addiction. When and a vintage jukebox. We were Swedes complain of over-regulation hide, taste-wise), another tried the Café Ópera’s speciality and soon we were frying away. The seated by the window in the pleasant you know that something is wrong. “foie gras,” French duck liver (or is their “Hot Rock Fantasy”: The fish and meat was fresh and tasty dining room, so we could enjoy the The homely wood-panelled lounge “Freedom duck liver”, as he insisted diners fry their meal themselves on and was served with a baked potato spectacular view which included two itself was extremely cosy, though, on calling it), which was stunningly piping hot granite rocks. There are filled with cream cheese, garlic of Reykjavík’s major landmarks: The and in fact reminded us of the delicious and melted in the mouth two options: Meat Fantasy (cuts butter for frying and two different hot-dog stand on the Lækjartorg editor’s home, the only difference like butter. Much to our surprise, of beef, lamb and pork) and Fish sauces: Barbecue and soya. The square and “Núllið”, Reykjavík’s only being the lack of hairballs, empty our editor, who was celebrating his Fantasy. At first we thought that barbecue sauce wasn’t in quite the proper public convenience (urinating beer cans and stacks of John birthday, ordered the only vegetable the latter had something to do with same class as the rest of the meal; a is complementary but you have to Cougar Mellencamp CDs (Bruce starter on the menu: eggplant and Fish, former lead singer of Marillion. good French mustard would have pay a small fee for more extensive Springsteen, goddammit. How often parmesan tart, served with smoked Guðrún and Tanja, our astoundingly been more appropriate. Dazed after operations). do I have to say this?-Ed). cheese, arugula and tomato “confit.” gorgeous waitresses, were quick to this feast, we retired to the upstairs One of us lit a cigarette When we returned We suspected that perhaps he was correct us: The Fish Fantasy consists lounge for dessert and coffee. while we leafed through the downstairs, it was time to order on a mission to iron out the wrinkles of various fresh seafood: Salmon, Grapevine’s correspondents shared a appetizing menus and then came the starters. One of us went for the in his birthday suit. As the evening tuna, scallop, lobsters and shrimp. tasting of sorbets and custards. Two the first shock of the evening: cream of wild goose – delicious, wore on, it became increasingly We ordered a combination of the obese thumbs up. smoking is completely forbidden in although a little to salty (strange, clear that these suspicions were two fantasies, Guðrún and Tanja the restaurant. The smokers in the since the soup had nothing to completely groundless. dressed us in aprons and chefs’ hats, ”My dream was always to become a slave to an arabic king” by Tero Mustonen

Rainy Thursday night washes Akureyri clean. My friend and I are thinking of finding a new place to dine. Word of mouth tells of a new interesting place up in Öxnadalur, 20 minutes away from Akureyri on the main road.

We jump into car and drive to you” says the sign on the left as we a slave to an Arabic King,” says the Háls, the last house on the right, turn from the main road and enter colourful character that operates in the valley among the dramatic the restaurant yard. Rain intensifies. this bizarre but interesting little mountains of Öxnadalur. Close by, Inside the host Guðveig restaurant. The house is filled the Home of the Winds glacier huffs Eyglóardóttir, a native of Borganes, with Arabic rugs, Persian music and puffs, perhaps watching us. welcomes us warmly. Born to a playing softly in the background, Stimulated by the dramatic scenery family of seven children, she has and bizarre items referring to the we start to talk of Icelandic ghosts had extensive training in cooking in Arab world around the dining hall. and the hidden people... Snæfellsnes before renting this house One half expects late great qawwali in Öxnadalur as a restaurant that was singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from ”It is business doing pleasure with opened 26th June 2004. Pakistan or one of his relatives to show up and do an improvised gig We are treated to a four-course here in the embrace of the mountains dinner, including a soup with of Öxnadalur. shrimp, squid, scallops, crowberry & ice cream and coffee. Throw in Guðveig lives in nature and from some wasabi and you start to get a nature. As a fisherwoman, she gets good sense of the evening’s offerings. local trout from the streams, berries The menu rotates; actually there is from the mountains and seafood by By the Reykjavík harbour no menu. The dishes change daily, supporting the local fishermen. In Suðurbugt Reykjavík harbour depending on the seasonal cycle of the little house in the mountains, the year and the moods of Guðveig. the best thing is the hostess herself. Tel: 551 5101 Meat dishes such as a whale course A colourful and straightforward are available later in the year ”as the personality, Guðveig takes care of nights get longer and darker.” The you like no other on the ring road. evening is crowned with home- You can reach Halastjarna at brewed ”Fíflavin”, a secret local wine [email protected] or by phone at product made out of dandelion. 4617997. The wine is on the sweet side, as is the hostess. All this for 3900 ISK, depending again on her mood.

”My dream was always to become Patterns of Energy A Retrospective Ragna Róbertsdóttir 3. September - 31. October 2004

Listasafn Reykjavíkur / The Reykjavik Art Museum - Kjarvalssta›ir, Flókagata 24, 105 Reykjavík www.listasafnreykjavikur.is - [email protected] - simi (+354) 517 1290 - fax (+354) 590 1201

������������������������������

������������������������������������

� � �

��� �������������������������� � � ��������������������������������������� 32 POETRY

A Farewell to Arms Death whistles on The Game down

This is the cliff ... the wind Many desire me as I desire you, (drum-solo) a key turned in a lock and the door On this cliff squeeks when she enters and the empire built a military base. Death whistles on the wind Mirages just out of reach. puts down her purse (drum-solo) closes Land was settled with helicopters, while bums scrounge says hello and looks into the living room at the sofa radar telescopes, buildings and weapons, in the alley. Everchanging and transparent walls (drum-solo) the dry eyes and it has everything that befits faded (drum-solo) and she strokes its a military base on the rim of the world. Hallgríms church sits Nevertheless very real. cheeks mumbles something in agreement Yet it soon become clear to all on the hill (drum-solo) decisively pulls into the bathroom chops that the task was hopeless, like a cherry. Infiltrated only by seeming indiffrence; it up and it is swiftly (drum-solo) flushed down that the cliff could not be threaded with all the sensitivity of a goldfish (drum-solo) on to the chain of the age Esja gazes upon the harbor Filling the air with careless laughter, that now enclosed the world. with sad blue lazy eyes. Steinar Bragi But there was no stopping: Relishing in being alive. the base’s construction had to be finished. Hysterical telephones And it would be operated jump scream twitch buzz Effortlessly cast a spell on others. with the main aim through the city. …and the word was Clint of abandoning it again. With you will the same be true? Old lady pulls pop cans Much to everyone’s surprise out of trash. For the obsessed there is but one thing to do: the haiku stormed the fields Einar Már Guðmundsson as mad as a hatter, It´s raining on Lækjartorg. Send a spark of interest, look away... wielding a sharp blade and started slashing metre Michael Dean Odin Pollock Secretly wait for you. left and right. A myriad of free-verse poetry Gréta Ósk Óskarsdóttir suffered defeat epistles slain against the walls bled caesurae out of their gullets.

A couplet for love sopped its cheeks with tears lonesome on a dirty cot, soiled with last nights stint, it reeked of lies and The Stairway 2004 yet it died with ease.

Parallels, opposites, elections recurrences, palaver and foot, by Hassan Harazi overstatements and understatements groaned in beat to the roar of demise when a maddening Japanese metre rode through the fields cross-legged with one word over the other in a mood of nearly insolent Calm.

Finally, the haiku itself dropped to its knees roared out a cry of war, raised the sword high above it’s head and drove the blade through it’s own abdomen.

Eiríkur Norðdal H.S.

It was the Gothenburg Post that famously remarked unable to cast my ballot due to a sudden case of voter Night on Iceland’s “democracy deficit”. I can say that this all apathy, but in the end Cream was declared the winner. completely unfounded. I have finally been granted the Disbelief was voiced at the failure of Beige to be elected, Night, keep quiet, night, right to vote in an Icelandic election, not the Alþingi, and in a hastily convened late night crisis meeting the and don’t let your children expect too much of you. City Council or Presidential ones, but one of far greater Beige candidate was duly announced the new winner. significance, What Colour to Paint the Stairway 2004. The contract for the actual painting was awarded to a Admittedly you have wrapped yourself in mysterious drapes The two candidates already fielded are: 94534/6530/wt company, who, although submitting a bid almost double And seduced many a maid and lad. Cream and 85746/8465/ew Beige. I have attempted to that of all the other tenders, did have the benefit of being Admittedly you have comforted, put to sleep and calmed. field two of my own candidates, 87079/5632/fg Red and owned by the brother of one of the residents. I am now 57832/9341/hw Green, who if elected would form an planning to field another one of my candidates in the But day will come, and expects so much of it’s children. alliance on the ‘Brightening Things Up’ and ‘It’ll Make forthcoming Christmas Decorations - Blinking or Non- It will also strip off those mysterious drapes a Nice Change’ platform. These two candidates have blinking Lights Election 2004 and the Do We Need a That you have wrapped yourself in, night, tonight. already been disqualified on the grounds of ‘rocking Bigger Flagpole 2005. the boat’ and ‘you’re just being stupid’. In the end I was Björg Elín Finnsdóttir

BERGSTAÐASTRÆTI 13 Lit. Theory 101 - PHONE: 551 3083 When every prayer reeks of pretension And every thought seems to be stillborn When reading books won´t bring you redemption Oldest bakery in Iceland And burning them won´t keep you warm When every play is within a play And every critic seems to be right When the stars are just a mile away since 1834 But even the darkness won´t make them bright When every picture is perfectly painted And you can no longer tell it from the wall When every window is clear and untainted But you cannot tell what´s in or out at all

Valur Gunnarsson Night

Night, keep quiet, night, and don’t let your children expect too much of you.

Admittedly you have wrapped yourself in mysterious drapes And seduced many a maid and lad. Admittedly you have comforted, put to sleep and calmed.

But day will come, and expects so much of it’s children. It will also strip off those mysterious drapes That you have wrapped yourself in, night, tonight.

Björg Elín Finnsdóttir

Lit. Theory 101

When every prayer reeks of pretension And every thought seems to be stillborn When reading books won´t bring you redemption And burning them won´t keep you warm When every play is within a play And every critic seems to be right When the stars are just a mile away But even the darkness won´t make them bright When every picture is perfectly painted And you can no longer tell it from the wall When every window is clear and untainted But you cannot tell what´s in or out at all

Valur Gunnarsson 34 OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK

IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE SET THEM FREE by Robert Jackson

Large shoals of Atlantic salmon have filled the rivers that are to be found around the country’s coastline. The reason they are here is to complete a life cycle that for many starts and finishes in the river. They come from the sea for one reason, and one reason alone: to breed. When they return to fresh water, the salmon stop eating and their body undergoes a change that sees it transform from a feeding machine to a breeding machine, its sole purpose to swim upstream, find a mate and a gravel bed where they can lay and fertilise their eggs. Once they reach the river their only real impediment is man. And herein lies a growing dilemma.

Is it noble to kill? Old guard vs. new release through awards and youth programmes, the country´s anglers have been slow to pick it Clapton does it Healthy, unpolluted Icelandic rivers have Now, Catch and Release, or Live Release as it up. Last year less than 3% of fish caught were Future salmon runs cannot be guaranteed, provided years of sport for fishermen here and is also known, gets fishermen around the world released. global warming and its effect on the salmon´s overseas. It’s been good for the economy, as its arguing long into the night. On one side is the food supplies while at sea cannot be reliably created income for the significant percentage old guard who will tell you that fishing is part Wanton destruction? predicted. Releasing fish plays an increasingly of farmers who own rivers and it´s been good of the hunter-gatherer´s gene: that to kill is not important part in this process. Experience in for the salmon, who have found themselves only noble, but an essential part of the chase. Most of the rivers are now closing after a 90 other countries has shown that once fish stocks protected by the government from the netsmen They will also tell you that there are more than day season. The salmon have now changed start to decline their demise quickly spirals out and polluters. They have been the perfect enough fish around and that to catch a fish colour from the bright silver of the spring and of control. The Minister of the Environment, renewable resource and while America, France, and then release it is to reduce a noble sport to are now slack-bellied and heavy with eggs despite widespread opposition, was courageous Spain, Scotland, England and several other a humanely unacceptable one of tormenting a and milt (sperm), and their flesh has become enough last year to put a three year ban on countries have seen a wholesale decline in fish with a hook and line before releasing it. virtually inedible unless smoked. The females ptarmigan shooting. Next year perhaps similar their salmon stocks, Iceland can be proud of its Then there is the new guard who say that carry over 3,000 eggs each. If they are caught intervention to see the release of all fish as the achievement in bucking a global trend. to kill a fish that is on its way to spawn is they don´t have the strength to put up a good spawning date approaches would make good One global trend that the country should unacceptable when numbers are in decline fight, so they are easily reeled in. At this stage sense, particularly if fisherman aren´t acting address as seriously is the matter of Catch and and that catching the fish and releasing it the angler has to ask himself a question: Is it voluntarily. Release. While salmon runs have remained back to the wild is essential if salmon stocks better for me to return this fish to the water so Most visiting fisherman from the Prince of strong, the average catch has reduced from are going to survive. The Rest of the World that it can breed for future generations, or do Wales to Eric Clapton are comfortable with 40,000 fish per annum ten years ago to nearer has gone Catch and Release, particularly I take her and her 3,000 eggs out of the water catch and release, and now that many Icelandic 30,000 recently. More significantly the bigger Russia, America; where it is compulsory, and so that I may have some smoked salmon and children are seeing the light, isn’t about time fish, the mighty Stórlax which weigh over in most other countries where target release possibly a trophy on my wall? their parents followed suit? 20lbs, are far fewer and there are growing figures of at least 50% are being set by fisheries The fact that the fisherman chooses at this STANGVEIÐIFÉLAG REYKJAVÍKUR concerns that too many fish, particularly the associations. stage in the season to kill what is the river´s Reykjavík Angling club future is beyond belief. Whatever the science Stórlax, are being killed. Warning bells are Here the old guard have been hard to move, Háaleitisbraut 68 starting to ring. and while the Reykjavik Angling Club, one of or statistics, to kill a river´s brood stock is to be p : 568-6050 the most successful and organised of its kind in part of the species demise, wantonly destructive the world, has recently encouraged catch and and jaw droppingly futile. www.svfr.is

Exiting planned day tours and KÖ-HÖNNUN / PMC custom made tours by your own wishes OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK 35 Island Life

Þorlákshöfn: Pacific Tuna finds its way to Arctic waters A two ton sun fish usually found in Pacific waters was hauled ashore in ���������� �������� Þorlákshöfn. Scientists were mysti- ����������� fied as to why it should have been swimming in a harbour close to the harbour. “It was already half dead when we found it” said a fisherman.

Þórsmörk Rescue workers from Hella have had their hands full assisting travellers ����������� as the water has been rising rapidly. Even the rescuers heavy trucks have taken to drift in the river, but no serious difficulty has as yet resulted. ���������

������������� Dispatches From the Cold Seas - Maps and Dreams of a Changing Arctic

by Tero Mustonen

On a hunting trip somewhere in Kaldoaivi Wilderness area, the late great Saami hunter Aslak Uula Aikio recognized an otter that had decided to give itself to him on this occasion. Having skiied for hours, Aikio just knew the place and time where he was to be. The right otter would be there, waiting for him. The use of dreams, spiritual and cultural sensitivity towards nature building on generations of experience of living in a place is quite common among the diverse Arctic societies. Further south, around lake Näsijärvi, In sub-Arctic Canada, the Nuotta Seine net fishermen have anthropologists like Hugh Brody carried on oral traditions, knowledge documented similar local knowledge and sacred relationship with fish in among the indigenous Dene Tha Finland. Their knowledge of place- hunters of North Eastern British to the western shores of Vancouver her resources are limited and if you names such as the island of Pikku Columbia in the 1970s. He wrote Island on Coast of Canada in 1778. Today we live in the Arctic in do not understand this, then you do Otava carried information about the of his experiences in a book ”Maps He arrived in a bay and met some which a similar dynamic can be not understand anything.” His words spawning times and proper harvest and Dreams,” explaining how the local people in their canoes. Locals found. Renewed interest in oil and in my mind I wonder at the marvel of vendace, pike perch, bram and local hunters would use dreams for would yell to Cook and his crew: gas exploration, militarization and of the sunset on Eyja fjord and the other species that my culture has locating prey and paths. ”Nootka, Nootka!” - a warning sign environmental protection without dispatches from the cold seas of an depended on for millennia. of difficult conditions. After that for, paying heed to local conditions Arctic under change. Cultures based on exploitation and almost 200 years, they were known is affecting our fishing families, On the coasts of the Baltic our seal colonisation of the Northern parts as the ”Nootka Indians.” It was not the Saami reindeer herders, the Tero Mustonen is a Finnish poet and a hunters Martti Välimaa, Evald of the planet had a quite different until the 1970s that the survivors Inuits, Evenkis of Siberia, Yukagir fisherman who manages Snowchange, Geust and others would have an perception of these areas. They of the cultural genocide of British subsistence hunters, Icelandic a project to collect local observations of itching to go sealing as the rays of thought of ”empty lands”, of the Columbia, the descendents of the sealers, Faroe whalers and other local change across the Arctic. He is living the spring sun indicated that it was Ultima Thule. Misconceptions people that met Captain Cook, communities. in Akureyri, teaching at the Social and time for a seal harvest. Older hunters have led to centuries of lack of were able to convince the world Economic Department of University of would dream of the place where the communication across cultural that they are actually called ”Nuu- In September 2003 Aikio told me: Akureyri. seals would be found. divides. An example is the arrival Chah-Nulth”, people of the sea and ”Do not think that human beings of British explorer Captain Cook mountains. can live without nature. Nature and 36 OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK Mountain Taxicab Confessions:

by Jónas Moody My Tires are Bigger than Yours It’s not the size of the tires; it’s the motion of the ocean, right? Wrong. If you want to venture off the coast and penetrate deep into Iceland’s virgin interior, you’ll need big tires. Unfortunately, most Icelandic jalopies can hardly make it up Öskjuhlíðin, let alone a glacier, but there are a number of local outfitters who are ready and willing to take you farther than you’ve ever gone before. Grapevine took a trip with one of the more popular outfitters, Mountain Taxi, to see if the grass really is greener on the other side of glacier. Gundi We are picked up at nine 9:00am base, some berry-picking, a coffee faces, named after two children who choir festival was held not too long We arrive home at 6:00, climb down in a monster truck by a rather shop with a makeshift museum fell to their death from the rock arch ago, and I am reminded of how from the monster truck, and give one Nordic looking fellow named Steini. of whaling in Iceland. This is all that used to stand over the falls. weird a place this country is. The last, grateful salute to Scoutmaster It sounds like there is an entire interesting, but I am most taken by Afterwards we lunch at Húsafell. I next stop and piece de resistance Steini. More than just his heroic nitroglycerin factory at work behind the stairs that automatically descend recommend brown-bagging because is Langjökull glacier. The road bone structure, Steini’s zealousness the dashboard and we are only idling when the doors to our monster the food is only fair, but the prices ends, but we carry on. This is the to show us his country, and the in downtown Reykjavík. Steini is a truck are opened, à la Flight of the are exhorbitant. moment you wait for as the monster earnestness with which he does pro at the helm of our land-barge, Navigator. I find it comforting the truck crawls over piles of rocks and just that, are the reasons this trip but he keeps a constant flow of way Steini casually throws around Our Landing Pad is Ice sloshes through pools of glacial is so very enjoyable. As Steini says, information coming to us while we these grandiose spans of time. “We runoff. Once on top of the glacier “No matter how many times I drive barrel out of the city. Once inside used to have two glaciers in the We drive next to Stefánshellir, we amble around like cosmonauts, through here, I always see something the vehicle he installs himself into an Northwest, but one melted,” as if a hidden lava tube in the middle looking into bottomless holes and new.” internal PA system talking about his pet guinea pigs. He of a lava field. Once inside the at the odd deposits of jet black silt. to broadcast a steady stream of continues with his geology lesson temperature drops drastically and Steini seems quietly pleased with our MOUNTAIN TAXI information varying from erosion as we come into Reykholtsdalur, the welcoming scent of moldy bread wonderment. It’s otherworldly on Trönuhraun 7 to beer, from shipwrecks to acts dotted with its geothermically heated pervades every chamber of the caves. the ice and the rest of the trip is lost of God, from the farming crisis to greenhouses. Nearby is Barnafoss We see stalactites galore and in the to its grandeur. On the way home tel: 565-5695 anecdotes from the Sagas, and even (Children’s Falls), a waterfall buried deepest and dankest chamber Steini we make stops at a large, stone cairn www.mountain-taxi.com cheesy jokes about Icelandic forests. among treacherous cliffs and rock- tells us this is where a children’s and also Þingvellir National Park.

Water: Falling, Gurgling, Stinking, Drinking

We make a few stops on the drive into Hvalfjörður: a ruined NATO

Probably the best .... in the world.

������������������� ������������������������ ����������������������

������������������������������������

��������������������� �������������������������������� 37 ��� So, we´ve finally managed to piece together 8 top 8´s in each category, 24 in all. What do our panel of experts consider to be the greatest Icelandic albums, books and movies of all time? We decided to award 8 points for the first album on each list, seven for number two and so on down the list. So here, then, are the results � � � of our very unscientific query. � � FILMS 1. Sódóma, Reykjavík by Óskar Jónasson. Ómar Örn said: “People are obviously having fun there.” Compared to albums and books, there have been comparatively few Icelandic films made. Hence, 2. Með allt á hreinu (On Top) by Ágúst Guðmundsson. Margrét Örnólfsdóttir said: the overlap is greater here than in the other categories. To the best of Grapevine´s knowledge, no “Almost all the songs went straight to that place in your head where songs that will not be comprehensive research has been made into what is the best Icelandic film ever made. How- forgotten go to.” ever, in 2000 DV published a list of the most popular films of all time. The best film of all time, 3. Nói Albínói (Nói Albínói) by Dagur Kári. The first part of Ari Ergis said: “Here was a according to our research, did not fare all that well at the box office at the time, but has since genius of my own generation.” attained the status of cult favourite. “Með allt á hreinu was,” however, a smash, and about 90% 4. Hrafninn flýgur (The Raven Flies) by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. of ages 16 to 40 saw the film at the time. It remains the most popular Icelandic film. Fans may 5. Á köldum klaka (Cold Fever) by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. Hugleikur said: “Cool as or may not be thrilled to know that a sequel is currently being made. Nói Albinói had not been Hell”. released at the time of the DV chart. It remains a mystery to Icelanders and Swedes alike how it is impossible to go through the Swedish school system without seeing “When the Raven Flies” 6. Rokk í Reykjavík by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. at least once, but it seems 70.000 Icelanders also enjoyed the privilege here in 1984, making it 7. Íslenski draumurinn (The Icelandic Dream) by Robert Douglas. the 10th most popular film of all time. Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, the most eminent of Icelandic 8. Benjamín dúfa (Benjamin the Dove) by Gísli Snær. Þráinn Bertelsson said: A directors has two films on our list, but surprisingly neither one of these are his bigger films Dev- beautiful and well made children´s film that did not get the international attention it deserved. ils Island (no.7 in the box office) and Angels of the Universe (no 4). Robert Douglas made one of most stunning movie debuts this country has seen with The Icelandic Dream, and Benjamin Dove is a first rate children´s film. � � ALBUMS 1. Sigur Rós: Ágætis byrjun. Arnar Eggert said: “Its sheer beauty cannot be argued with.” 2. Megas og Spilaverk þjóðanna: Á bleikum náttkjólum. Bogi Reynisson said: “If you In some of the first research conducted into what was the greatest Icelandic album of all time, buy only one album in your life, make sure it´s this one.” Poppbókin from 1983, it emerged that “Á bleikum náttkjólum” by Megas and Spilaverk þjóðanna 3. Mínus: Halldór Laxness. Freyr Eyjólfsson said: “If any music captures the zeitgeist in was the best album ever released upon these shores. The real winner on that list, however, was Iceland today it is Mínus.” Bubbi Morthens, who had made four out of 10 albums. In the book “Eru ekki allir í stuði” by 4. Purrkur Pillnikk: Googooplex. Heiða Eiríksdóttir said: “My favourite band in the eminent rock researcher Dr. Gunni, the nation gets to vote on nominations by experts and picked world!” the then newly released “Ágætis byrjun” by Sigurrós. “Á bleikum náttkjólum” came in third after 5. SH Draumur: Goð. Björk´s Debut. Our experts come to much the same conclusion as previous findings, Sigurrós Gímaldin said: “A better Lars Von Trier film than the director´s narrowly beating Megas by a point. However, in third place we have “Halldór Laxness” by Mínus, 6-7. Björk: Homogenic. movies themselves.” which had not yet been released at the time of Gunni´s book. Purrkur Pillnik´s “Googooplex” only made it to 21 on the 1983 list and 74 on Gunni´s list, but rightly does better here. Dr. 6-7. Þeyr: Mjötviður mær. Gunni´s own band SH Draumur is in 5th, 31 on his list. “Debut” fails to chart here, but both Ho- 8. Björk: Post / Glámur og Skrámur: Í sjöunda himni / Hljómar: Hljómar / mogenic and Post do. It would be interesting to see how “Medulla” would fare. Þeyr´s “Mjötviður Valgeir Guðjónsson and co.: Gaia / Fan Houtens Kókó: Það brakar í herra K. Mær” was in 10th place in Poppbókin and 25th in Gunni. It has yet to be released in its entirety on CD. � � BOOKS 1. Brennu-Njáls Saga, author unknown. Andri Snær said: “It might as well be the only book in the world.” 2. Gerpla (Happy Warriors), by Halldór Laxness. Sjón said: “Imitating the style of the sagas, Laxness moves his hapless hero from one hilarious massacre to the next.” Considering the enormous amount of books published here it is not surprising that opinions 3. Edda, by Snorri Sturluson. vary. In 1999 over 3,000 people participated in a query by the Book association of Iceland. “Inde- pendent People” by Halldór Laxness was chosen the best book of all time. His closest competi- 4. Salka Valka, by Halldór Laxness. Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir said: “The final sentences still make me tors were himself, who had a total of four books on the list, and football player Þorgrímur Þráins- cry.” son, best known for his campaigns against smoking. The outcome was highly contentious, as the 5. Ljúgðu Gosi, Ljúgðu (Lie Pinocchio, Lie), by Steinar Bragi. Eiríkur Norðdal said: voters seem to have been primarily small children and relatives of Þorgrímur. He did not make “A divine kick in the plebeian groin of society.” it onto Grapevines list. Laxness did, with both “Gerpla” and “Salka Valka,” but the brilliant “In- 6. Sú kvalda ást sem hugarfylgsnin geyma (Torments in the Chamber of dependent People” is mysteriously absent. Just as mysteriously, there´s not a single Saga on the Mind), by Guðbergur Bergsson. Kristján B. Jónasson said: “One of the few Icelandic books 1999 top ten (perhaps these are not read by small children or relatives of Þorgrímur), although about love.” the classics “Njála” and “Edda” wind up on ours. The other four books are favorites of one or another of our judges, but none of them were voted for by more than one. Hence, the books from 7. Sunnudagskvöld til mánudagsmorguns (From Sunday-Morning till 4-8 in fact received an equal amount of points, but have been placed on the list in random order. Monday-Evening), by Ásta Sigurðardóttir. Elísabet Jökulsdóttir said: “I swallowed it as if I had been hungry for ages.” 8. Ævisaga Jesú (The Life of Jesus), by Ásmundur Guðmundsson. Jón Gnarr said: “Christianity lessons at their best” - - Megas Singapore Guðbergur is a total Bergsson On Englabörn, Jóhann On Englabörn, is a wonderful book, full of is a wonderful book,

by Á bleikum náttkjólum. náttkjólum. Á bleikum This man is a genius! And I believeThis man is a genius! And What can album that about this I say

Svavaof Jakobsdóttir is a fantastic book by Fríða Á Sigurðardóttir is an alluring novel Fríða Í sjöunda himni (1979) I have always the magnificent pop/ loved Óskar Jónasson. Hysterically funny. Icelandic Hysterically Óskar Jónasson. funny.

Englabörn. Englabörn. by by Thor VilhjálmssonThor is a beautiful painting in Of course there is one album by Björk on my on album by Björk is one Of course there Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. Hrafn has made many Hrafn has made many Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. Jakobína Sigurðardóttir takes you on a powerful a powerful Jakobína Sigurðardóttir on takes you by Life is Killing My Rock ‘n’ Roll. Roll. ‘n’ Life is Killing My Rock Gísli Snær Erlingsson. A beautiful tale about Gísli Snær Erlingsson. by Goð. Goð. by by Dagur Kári. The Icelandic film version of the ElvisThe Icelandic film version Dagur Kári. Gunnar Gunnarsson Þorfinnur Guðnason. A documentary Þorfinnur about Iceland’s Guðnason. by by

Hilmar Oddsson. Beautiful, moving, with excellent moving, Beautiful, Hilmar Oddsson. Ágætis byrjun. by Jón Tryggvason. Jón Lonely Mountain. Mountain. Lonely by Þráinn Bertelsson. The first film in the only trilogy comic Þráinn Bertelsson. Halldór Laxness casts the wars in the an unusual light on by by Homogenic. Homogenic. by � � � Hjartað býr enn í helli sínum , Hjartað býr enn í helli , sínum Gerpla Fjallkirkjan, Meðan nóttin líður, � � � Grámosinn glóir, Grámosinn glóir, Foxtrott Foxtrott Glámur og Skrámur: og Skrámur: Glámur Sigur Rós: Draumur: S.H. Megas og Spilverk þjóðanna: Jóhann Jóhannsson: Mugison: Björk: Singapore Sling:

Lifandi vatnið, undir grjótvegg, Veisla Kaldaljós Nói Albínói Hrafninn flýgur Benjamín dúfa Nýtt líf Sódóma Reykjavík Sódóma . Njálssaga. . . Lalli Johns . 1. 2. It stands out for its perfection and beauty. has not been said before? Masterpiece! 3. Every this album is great on song Gunni company. and Dr. punk from Gunni to make it available again. challengeand I hereby Dr. 4. a classic the most, I treasure albums but this one great has made so many and lot of drugs. album about all and nothing, 5. offersJóhannsson endless to I have nothing more gracefulness and style. buy one. have a copy, don’t that if you except about this record say 6. day one Fjords West to be the king of the is going Mugison 7. I could have picked them all holds a special place in my but this one list, heart. 8. this album -it’s and I just love fun again, Sling have rock’n’roll made brilliant. that keeps your attention from the beginning to the end. The best of true the beginning to the end. from attention that keeps your blues ever. 8. shivering story. and exciting witty, A bold, delicacy. 1 2. It wouldn´t world and makes them not only bizarre but also grotesque. as a surprisecome that warhappy men became embarrassed reading when Gerpla and by no means a crazy an obligatory idea to make the book Gerplabranch is filled of learning for people and parliaments. with unforgettable characters and is masterfullyglorious descriptions, written. 3. A classical and pseudonym worlds. beautiful compositions through voyage piece of art about modern man. day 4. ripple and unforgettable descriptions about the past. 5. stuff Tough short stories that changes sterile everyday thoughts and ideas. and nothing less. 6. Living magic. and colours. composition words, 7. makers at the time. makers at the 3. performances by two teenage actors. 4. brilliant in it´s simplicity. Totally The Ghetto. In song 5 and tragic glimpse into the A funny most notorious small time crook. pathetic underworld of Reykjavík. 6. he rips Here of history in the of the worst movies of Icelandic cinema. Viking and SergioIcelandic Leone Kurosawa An spaghetti style. with but cool. Kooky western. 7. A Stand by Me for Icelanders. off age. death and coming friendship, 8. Eggert Þorleifsson Karland Iceland. in made ÚlfssonÁgúst formtop in as Lovable guys in a happy-go-lucky film. the idiots Þór and Danni. 1. 1. 2. and pointless nudity with shotguns been pestered cinema had until Óskar film like most Icelandic out of date, film that both were with this proved path who takes a road trip with his retarded brother it turns into a cinematic brother trippath who takes a road with his retarded drive the brothers instance, For masterpiece that can viewings. stand repeated emo a deep, This inspires of course. Killing it, their way. a sheep on over of between the two idiots about the nature philosophical conversation tional, scaring in the films climatic And scene Kiddi shoots out a car window, death. One of the high points in crazy?” you “Are witless as he screams Tommy ever of the funniest movies made. is one Foxtrott Icelandic cinema history. it yet. know just don´t You - - jáls saga. The author is The author jáls saga. In itself it doesn´t really matter matter In itself it doesn´t really and maybe Njála is the best example of is of how the author little importance. N unknown but many people think that Snorri it. Sturluson wrote he album that tops my list is a Vigdís trained and worked as a teacher as a teacher and worked Vigdís trained herself when she devoted until 1990, of first book Her to literature. entirely Your from Pictures Ten short stories, then and since came out in 1983, Life, among the nine novels, she has published Z: I am a Leo, I am Ísbjörg, Cold Light, Cold StoryA Love 7. Road and Grandi into a film, been made Light has recently and two been made have other novels here been produced have into plays which When a book, latest Her and in Sweden. came out last year. Falls, Star Jonni, as he´s always called, grew up in called, as he´s always Jonni, as Town neighbouring Garðabær (Foam in Reykjavíkhe calls it) but has lived for his career started He the past eight years. industry in 1992 in the in the record always his wages Hljómalind where store holds a He wound up back in the register. for the in business and has worked degree Edda and is currently label Japis, labels has also written He Tónar. ofmanager 12 Undirtónar about music in Morgunblaðið, and Sánd. T seven the late album from children’s story the It tells of two strange ties. calledbrothers Glámur and Skrámur with a talking and their adventures a piano playing horse, a blue cow, and the people of Candyland cat, except all lost their teeth who have for the little princess. television and the agony of being a depressed, of being a depressed, and the agony television pessimistic journalist alcoholic and recovering cities in the in one of booze-driven the most and has books also writes about comic He world. a final being planning to write years for several theory in alcoholism about paper in literature runsÞórarinn ofthe works Raymond Chandler. he collects all his where Badabing.is the web site the slander about all he can´t writings and blogs also frequently blogs His print in Fréttablaðið. upon the subject of being a depressed, touch in pessimistic journalist alcoholic and recovering cities in the world. one of driven the most booze Þórarinn Þórarinsson is a journalist at Þórarinsson Þórarinn is one of newspapers He the film Fréttablaðið. critics mostly about and columnists and writes with good friends, sharing a drink or something better. The moral of this album is to accept strange things, nothing is too out of the or The moral of this album is to accept strange things, sharing a drink better. or something friends, with good from nothing has been heard og Skrámur, Glámur the brothers, Regarding teeth. candy bad for your eat too much as it’s and don’t dinary, having a beer. but maybe and just maybe sitting in Café Austurstræti they are them in years (acid casualties???), Purkur Pillnikk Bubbi Morthens - Fingraför, - Brain Police, Brain Police Ham - Hold, Some my top 8 list: albums that almost made it on more. many and many Þeyr - Mjötviður mær, was OK, Today was dramatic, Yesterday múm - - Ekki enn and GooGooPlex, It’s obvious that the people who made the album had a lot of fun, and who knows what was going on in the studio considering how in the studio considering on how what was going and who knows obvious who made the album had a lot of fun, that the people It’s as I have found out sitting in the sofa with you and it grows that never gets drained, This is a record strange stages. the album gets at some your nearest of friends and next of kin fade in comparison. This is also a book you can time and in every you open up at any This is also a book chapter find you´ll of friends nearest and next of kin fade in comparison. your that gives endlessly Njálssaga is a book it is not only a gem but a total feast. and therefore humour and villainous fate. excitement, It is the art that remains and Njála survives any storm because it is a monument that makes time laughable and totally irrelevant. The book is The book It is the art and Njála survives that remains storm any because and totally that makes time laughable it is a monument irrelevant. also unbelievablyThe characters well after written appear one so beautifully that are another and some and the story created is a magical event. His younger half brother, Tommy (Steinar Ólafsson), tags along and on the and on tags along (Steinar Ólafsson), Tommy half brother, His younger Kiddi flips, by María Ellingsen. played they Lísa, way pick up a pretty girl, tries to rape hearted Lisa and leaves her for dead putting the good younger to do the right Is he going thing or stand by his deranged in a crisis. brother an Icelandic thriller this is unbelievably as you lame but as soon For brother? about a psycho but a comedy movie is not an action realize that Foxtrott Foxtrott thriller action and as suchThis was supposed to be a fast moving it is a Meet Kiddi and probablyfilm ever the worst Icelandic total failure made. Örn Flygenring)(Valdimar an ex-football star who can´t face that he is a has when he gets a He gets a break He acts cool but is a natural born loser. been. a gun! He gets a cool jeep and a bunch of cash the country. job moving across by Vigdís Grímsdóttir by Jóhann Jóhannsson by Þórarinn Þórarinsson by Þórarinn H.S. H.S. H.S. ��� ��� ��� � ������ � ������ � �����

H.S. Welcome

From: GBP 56* EUR 85* DKK 635 * SEK 770* NOR 810* Iceland Express – The Only Low Cost Airline To Iceland Low fare flights, twice a day, from London and Copenhagen No minimum stay, unrivalled flexibility Online booking, e-ticketing

*One way including taxes