The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 1 — 2011
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The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 7 — 2015
TRACK OF THE ISSUE
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Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík www.grapevine.is grapevine@grapevine.is Published by Fröken ehf. www.froken.is Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association www.saf.is
How’s This For A Media Circus? Anna’s editorial
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Contributing Writers: Alex Baumhardt Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson Björn Teitsson Jón Benediktsson Davíð Roach Helgi Harðarson Hildur María Friðriksdóttir Kári Tulinius Larissa Kyzer Óli Dóri Ragna Ó. Guðmundsdóttir Rex Beckett Magnús Sveinn Helgason Mark Asch Ragnar Hrólfsson York Underwood
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It has been one seriously eventful week for Icelandic media. In case you haven’t heard, I’m going to relay it for you here, because, wow. Just, wow. On Tuesday morning, Vísir reported that two sisters—Hlín Einarsdóttir and Malín Brand—had been arrested on Friday for trying to extort millions of krónur from Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. Yes, our Prime Minister! Equally absurd is the fact that these sisters aren’t just a couple of junkies who resorted to a preposterous plan to get their next fix; they’re journalists! Hlín is a former editor of Bleikt.is, a sub-site of a media outlet owned by Vefpressan, and Malín is a journalist at Morgunblaðið, one of Iceland’s daily newspapers. Naturally, we thought, for a couple of journalists to blackmail our Prime Minister, they must be sitting on some really damning information. We didn’t have much time to speculate about which one of the rumors about Sigmundur Davíð might be true before Kjarninn reported on the contents of the blackmail letter. Hlín had apparently threatened to make public information linking the PM to the purchase of DV by the aforementioned Vefpressan, whose largest stakeholder is Björn Ingi Hrafnsson. Given that Hlín is Björn Ingi’s former girlfriend, we thought, she must know something. The following day, after the police released the sisters from custody, Malín called us, as well as a number of other media outlets, to say that she had not confessed to the crime, as some had reported. She denied having had any part in writing the letter, which was addressed to Sigmundur Davíð’s wife, and said she had simply accompanied her sister to pick up the money, at a lava field on the outskirts of Hafnarfjörður.
Since then, both our Prime Minister and Björn Ingi have come out to say that the reported contents of the blackmail letter—the former’s role in financing the latter’s takeover of DV—have no basis in reality. What’s more, the editor of Menn.is, also owned by Vefpressan, has now pressed charges against the sisters for the same crime. He said he paid them 750,000 ISK about two months ago after Hlín threatened to charge him with rape. He reportedly had Malín provide him with a receipt, which she wrote on Morgunblaðið letterhead, to prove that he had paid and that they would not come back to him for more money. On Thursday morning, as we put the final touches on this paper, the sisters had just been taken back into custody for further questioning, leaving us with a lot of questions about a scandal that has quite remarkably involved nearly every media outlet in Iceland: Was there any truth to their allegations? Did Malín lie about her involvement? And, regardless, how does scandal after scandal seem to bounce off our Prime Minister? Whatever the truth turns out to be, in this particular media circus it is tough to tell who is the ringmaster and who are the clowns.
Introducing The Grapevine Summer Cocktail Of 2015!
sóley “Ævintýr”
Download the FREE tracks at www.grapevine.is “Ævintýr” means “fairy tale” in Icelandic, and throughout this track from sóley’s newest album, ‘Ask The Deep’, the wistful songstress urges us, “You must face your fairy tale”. While most of us don’t live in the land of crystal balls and seven dwarfs, this song provides the perfect accompaniment for pretending. Take a walk around the Reykjavík pond on a misty day, put this song on repeat and allow the beat to transport you to a land far far away. Sóley has a darkness about her music, but here it feels comfortable —more Tim Burton than Eli Roth perhaps. Her voice is airy and ethereal like candle smoke, but the eerie beat keeps us wanting more. The song starts soft and builds slowly in a larger fuller sound, but this climax feels mysterious rather than victorious —much like a fairy tale, perhaps.
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Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson, Hörður Kristbjörnsson, Jón Trausti Sigurðarson, Oddur Óskar Kjartansson, Valur Gunnarsson 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 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’).
On the cover: Illustration by Snorri Eldjárn Snorrason www.snorrieldjarn.com
A RARE, ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY Visit the largest man-made ice caves and tunnel in Europe You can choose from various tours and book online at www.intotheglacier.is
WWW.INTOTHEGLACIER.IS