Strætó Is Finally Stepping Into the 21St Century Glitnir CEO Lárus Welding
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www.grapevine.is THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND IN THE ISSUE Issue 15 • 2010 • September 24 - October 7 COMPLETE+ CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE! WTF! OMG! LOL! ROFL! BRB Glitnir CEO Lárus Strætó is finally London's Mayor RIFF promises Watching whales, Welding made over stepping into vs. Reykjavík's plenty of fun times rowing boats $3.000 per day in 2009 the 21st century T The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 15 — 2010 The Reykjavík GRapevine Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík 2 www.grapevine.is [email protected] Editorial | Haukur S. Magnússon Published by Fröken ehf. www.froken.is Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association www.saf.is Wish I Was Still On Vacation :( Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies. Haukur’s 31st editorial ediToR: Haukur S Magnússon / [email protected] jouRnalisT: Went to the beach a couple times, actually. That hell are we trying accomplish here? This is not Anna Andersen / [email protected] was nice. Wish we had beaches like that over here. how an enlightened and reasonable society oper- ediToRial: Oh yes, I did a little dance, made a little love, ates. This is not how we run a discourse. This is +354 540 3600 / [email protected] advertisinG: got down tonight. Boy was it relaxing! As I boarded not how we solve any problems! +354 540 3605 / [email protected] the plane back home I felt like a fresh, new human It feels like we are all stuck in some sort of publisheR: being, all ready to take on the world with the sun horrible Twilight Zone-type area where we are Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / [email protected] +354 540 3601 / [email protected] in my eyes and a smile on my face. doomed do just cover our ears and scream as loud Then the stewardess passed around the latest as we can in one another’s faces while completely ContribuTinG WRiTeRs: Dr. Gunni copies of Fréttablaðið and Morgunblaðið, Iceland’s ignoring the each other, the outside world and ev- Sveinn Birkir Björnsson two daily newspapers. ery attempt at a valid argument. Paola Cardenas Anna Margrét Björnsson Ugh. I sank further into my chair with every What are we protecting? Who are we protect- Emily Burton turn of the page. I tensed up. My skin turned pale ing? Dominic Rowland Egill Helgason and clammy. I started shaking uncontrollably as I What are we doing? Marc Vincenz envisioned of the environment I was returning to. I don’t understand. Alexander Roberts Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl Hi. I’m back from vacation. It was alright. I read a I cried a little inside. And I am having some serious doubts whether "Travis Bickle" lot of books. Drank a lot of beer. Took in some sun. Folks, what are we doing? Seriously! What the I have the stomach to partake much longer. Bogi Bjarnason Brian Suda Bob Cluness Íris Erlingsdóttir Mayor's Address | Jón Gnarr Catharine Fulton ediToRial inTeRns: Eimear Fitzgerald / [email protected] Welcome To Reykjavík Wiebke Wolter / [email protected] on-line neWs ediToR The odds of you being in Reykjavík are not great. himself has been dead for a long time: Paul Nikolov / [email protected] The greatest part of mankind is elsewhere. It is sci- art diRectoR: entifically proven. When I was little, I would often Hörður Kristbjörnsson / [email protected] ask myself why I had been born in Reykjavík. Is it Does this mean that I always existed, or that desiGn: a coincidence where one is born? Is it subject to I never existed and do therefore not exist now? Páll Hilmarsson / [email protected] some universal law? Did I exist in any form before That can’t be! It would mean that all our existence phoTographeR: I was born? Did I have anything to do with where was unreal and only existed in our own imagina- Hörður Sveinsson / hordursveinsson.com I was born? Why did Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler tion. If I do not exist, then neither do you. I have sales diRectoR: not bear any children? Did they not try to? Can it a hard time believing that. The facts speak for Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / [email protected] Guðmundur Rúnar Svansson / [email protected] be that no child wanted them as parents? I don’t themselves. If I am not real, then how could I fly to know, but I do not believe in coincidence. I do not Finland, send myself a post card with a picture of distribuTion: [email protected] believe that God plays dice, especially not when Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland, fly back pRoofReadeR: human lives are concerned. These thoughts inevi- home and welcome the mailman that brought me also said that the Moomins had always existed, Jim Rice tably lead one to consider Schrödinger's cat. He is the card? I don’t know. I am one of many Iceland- long before Tove Jansson “invented” them. The pRess Releases: probably one of the most famous cats in the world ers that believe in elves and trolls. I mainly believe Moomins are eternal, at least in books. [email protected] (maybe after Ninja Cat). Still no one knows what in Moomin elves. It is more of a certainty than a I hope these thoughts shed some light on the submissions inquiRies: [email protected] it was called? What was Schrödinger's cat called? belief. I have seen them and touched them. I know history of Reykjavík and its culture. I hope you en- subscripTion inquiRies: Abracadabra? I don’t remember. Let’s call it Phoe- they exist. I have been to Moominworld in Naan- joy your time in Reykjavík, that you go swimming +354 540 3605 / [email protected] GeneRal inquiRies: nix. That is a common name for cats. Phoenix was tali, Finland. I have evidence; photographs, video a lot and tell all your friends how fun Reykjavík is, [email protected] of the nature that it both existed and not. There- recordings and witnesses. I had a good talk with and how everyone is always happy there and that foundeRs: fore, it always existed, and even if Schrödinger Moomin Papa. He told me that life in Moominval- you will never forget your hotel, Suðurlandsbraut Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson, killed his cat in a rather tasteless manner, it is still ley was much better after Finland joined the EU. and the eternally young cat Phoenix Hörður Kristbjörnsson, Jón Trausti Sigurðarson, alive at Schrödinger's house, while Schrödinger He encouraged us Icelanders to join the EU. He Jón Gnarr, Mayor of Reykjavík Oddur Óskar Kjartansson, Valur Gunnarsson Comic | Hugleikur Dagsson The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken ltd. Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly from May til October. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes, Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all major tour- ist attractions and tourist information centres in the country. You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored. (No articles in the Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own, not the advertisers’). On the cover: www.grapevine.is THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND IN THE ISSUE Issue 15 • 2010 • September 24 - October 7 COMPLETE+ CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE! WTF! OMG! LOL! ROFL! BRB Steingrímur J. Sigfússon Glitnir CEO Lárus Strætó is finally London's Mayor RIFF promises Watching whales, Welding made over stepping into vs. Reykjavík's plenty of fun times rowing boats $3.000 per day in 2009 the 21st century Photo: Baldur Kristjáns www.baldurkristjans.is Assistance: Gísli Kr. 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