www.grapevine.is THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND IN THE ISSUE Issue 01 • 2011 • January 7 - February 3 + COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE! Tear it up and start again! What happened during the last decade? How can we avoid messing up the new one? : ) Phew. New decade time. This is a joyous occasion, as the one we're leaving behind was by most accounts a failed one (although it did have some awesome bits in between). In our first issue of this shiny new decade, we consult historians, poets, CEOs, authors, politicians, artists, businessfolks, teenagers and seniors alike to try and determine just what happened, and what's in store. The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 1 — 2011 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 Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies. EDITOR: Haukur S Magnússon / [email protected] JOURNALIST: Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir / [email protected] HOPE and CHANGE and stuff EDITORIAL: +354 540 3600 / [email protected] ADVERTISING: +354 540 3605 / [email protected] PUBLISHER: Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / [email protected] I watched the Prime Minister’s address on New +354 540 3601 / [email protected] Year’s Eve. I should not have bothered. There were CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: no surprises. It was Your Standard Prime Minister Eísabet Jökulsdóttir Of Iceland’s New Year’s Address, with no original Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson Ásmundur Ásmundsson thought (nor commentary, nor ideas, nor sign of Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl life) managing to seep through the thick cloak of Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir mundane mediocrity that Iceland’s government Bart Cameron Kristín Eiríksdóttir seems determined to shroud itself in. Bob Cluness Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir Haukur Viðar Alfreðsson Even though you could say I support our current Haukur Már Helgason government—in the sense that I wouldn’t want Paul F. Nikolov Hilmar Magnússon any of the other parties occupying Alþingi at pres- Einar Már Guðmundsson ent governing me—and even though I am rooting Óttar M. Norðfjörð for it—in the sense that I agree with most of the Birkir Fjalar Viðarsson and inventive and original and progressive. Per- Margrét Tryggvadóttir goals they’ve set and I hope that they reach them— haps now is not the time for ‘hope’ and ‘change’ Íris Erlingsdóttir I have some very mixed feelings about it. In fact and stuff. Perhaps there is only one way out of this Þorgerður Einarsdóttir you could say that I don’t really... like it. Áslaug Friðriksdóttir mess, and perhaps it is the one we are currently TRACK OF Íris Erlingsdóttir trudging along. THE ISSUE Dr. Gunni The governing parties are not behaving in a way Steinunn Gunnlaugsdóttir Download your free track at Siv Friðleifsdóttir that makes me especially proud to have voted them And to be fair, the current government was faced grapevine.is Bergrún Anna Hallsteinsdóttir in office, and they neither actively represent nor Magnús Sveinn Helgason with a damn near impossible situation upon tak- uphold the values they strive to associate them- ing the reins. It has soldiered on relentlessly. And EDITORIAL INTERNS: selves with (and that I quite agree with). indeed, it has accomplished many good things in Alda Kravec / [email protected] Sindri Eldon / [email protected] its time, and initiated some much needed change Even though they are far from living up to their (for instance with regards to gay rights. I am all ON-LINE NewS EDITOR Paul Nikolov / [email protected] promises, they still present no surprises. That for gay rights). ART DIRecTOR: such groupings of career politicians working TRACK OF THE ISSUE Hörður Kristbjörnsson / [email protected] within veteran political structures would jadedly And to be fair (fairness is important), some of DESIGN: Prinspóló: Niðrá strönd Páll Hilmarsson / [email protected] trudge on trying to maintain the system that has those we’ve recently voted in exactly because they Download the FREE track at www.grapevine.is PHOTOGRAPHER: bred and fed them is entirely unsurprising. promised new things and different approaches ap- Hörður Sveinsson / hordursveinsson.com This is pretty much the best Icelandic country song ever writ- SALES DIRecTOR: pear to be in the process of striking out, too (but ten, and by country, I mean real, bona-fide Icelandic country Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / [email protected] Maybe what’s surprising is that some of us dared to be fair, we will give them a year in office before Guðmundur Rúnar Svansson / [email protected] that actually makes you think of Iceland, and not just some hope the great opportunity ICELAND’S TOTAL fat baby boomer re-doing an American song with Icelandic DISTRIBUTION: despairing completely). [email protected] COLLAPSE presented would perhaps be used to lyrics. It’s queer and quirky without being too pretentious about it, and cynical without being pompous and melancholy. PROOFREADER: usher in some much needed and positive change. Jim Rice But I was still hoping for something different, and It’s really just one guy with a couple of overdubbed guitars singing about a woman he doesn’t get, and sometimes, that’s PRESS RELEASES: That it would inspire us to try new things; new sys- something more. all you fucking need right there. [email protected] tems, new ideas and new ways of thinking. That www.facebook.com/prinspolo SUBMISSIONS INQUIRIES: [email protected] we would maybe collectively envision and imple- Perhaps it is time I place my hopes elsewhere? SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: ment novel and exciting ways of rebuilding some +354 540 3605 / [email protected] of our fallen structures, even dropping some dead GENERAL INQUIRIES: Or perhaps this is a time for hopelessness? [email protected] weight along the way. Y’know. FOUNDERS: Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson, I hope not. Hörður Kristbjörnsson, I might be wrong. Geez, I hope I’m wrong. Per- Jón Trausti Sigurðarson, haps now isn’t the time to try new things or differ- Oddur Óskar Kjartansson, Valur Gunnarsson ent approaches. Perhaps this isn’t a time to be fun The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken ltd. Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly from May til Octo- Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir ber. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is dis- tributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes, Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all major tourist 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’). www.grapevine.is THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND IN THE ISSUE Issue 01 • 2011 • January 7 - February 3 + COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE! Tear it up and start again! What happened during the last decade? Illustration: How can we avoid messing up the new one? : ) Phew. New decade time. This is a joyous occasion, as the one we're leaving behind was by most accounts a failed one (although it did have some awesome bits in between). In our first issue of this shiny new decade, we consult historians, poets, CEOs, authors, politicians, artists, businessfolks, teenagers and seniors alike to try and determine just what happened, and what's in store. Hristbjörnsson - this.is/trendy ICELAND :: FILM – Berlin – Copenhagen – Reykjavík MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS – EDDAS AND SAGAS ICELANDERS – AN EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHS Icelandic Filmmaking 1904-2008 The Ancient Vellums on Display The spirit of the Icelandic nation in words and images. EXHIBITIONS - GUIDED TOURS The Culture House – Þjóðmenningarhúsið Open daily between 11 am and 5 pm CAFETERIA - CULTURE SHOP National Centre for Cultural Heritage Free guided tour of THE MEDIEVAL MANU- Hverfi sgata 15 · 101 Reykjavík (City Centre) SCRIPTS exhibition Mon and Fri at 3:30 pm. Tel: 545 1400 · www.thjodmenning.is SUPER JEEP ADVENTURES AND OTHER EXCITING DAY TOURS Super Jeep tours through magnificent landscape EASY AND ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE ICELANDROVERS.IS - [email protected] - Tel: +354 587 9999 or visit the ITM INFORMATION AND BOOKING CENTER, Bankastræti 2 - Downtown, Reykjavík SINCE GLACIER WALKS > 1994 MAKE EVERY MOMENT AN EXPERIENCE From 9.990 ISK. Spör ehf. EASY AND ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE MOUNTAINGUIDES.IS [email protected] Icelandair Pioneer Tel: +354 587 9999 Award 2006 or visit the ITM INFORMATION AND BOOKING CENTER, For designing and For environmental policy For education and continuous For innovation and developing Glacier Walks. and awareness. training of guides. development of Glacier Walks. Bankastræti 2 - Downtown, Reykjavík Sour grapes MOST AWESOME LETTER and stuff Some excellent music from our good friends at Kimi Records What's better than starting your New Year off with some new music for your stereo? Nothing, Say your piece, voice that's what. Well, maybe a free case of beer is slightly better, but we don't have any of those your opinion, send to give away at the moment, so this issue's MOST AWESOME LETTER WRITER will have to your letters to: settle for some new, free music. [email protected] Yes, our prize for sending in awesome letters this month is two whole CDs of music, graciously donated by our friends at Kimi Records. Whoever wrote that letter may pick up his or her prize at the Havarí store in Austurstræti. He or she can choose any two records from the growing Kimi catalogue (browse it at www.havari.grapewire.net) and just sort of grab them from whatever friendly Havarí record store clerk is working when they get there.