Published December 1, 2006

As the holiday spirit consumes me, let me present my early Christmas present to you: Dear Readers, an all new look to your favorite magazine, The Reykjavík Grapevine. With the publication standing at a juncture, this being our 51st issue, we thought this would be an excellent time to change things up a bit.

I am also proud to announce: An aluminium smelting plant, a heavily disputed dam-project (built to power said aluminium smelting plant), and the Icelandic northwest’s capital are among the places that The Reykjavík Grapevine will claim as its own as of this issue and onwards. I am of course talking about the Kárahnjúkar dam-site, Reyðarfjörður smelting plant Fjarðarál, and legendary home to Mugison and the Mudball tournament alike, Ísafjörður.

The issue of immigration has weighed heavily on people in the last few weeks. The Liberal party has responded to their own political bankruptcy by blaming foreigners for every conceivable future problem the country might eventually run into. Their discourse does nothing but show-off their complete moral and ideological bankruptcy. As much as the Liberal Party has tried to deny it, they have firmly placed themselves in the company of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Jurg Haider and Christoph Blocher. We now have our very own, Guðjón Arnar Kristinsson. This issue’s feature reveals some of the most blatant propaganda in the Liberal Party’s discourse. As much as this should be an unnecessary act, serious attempts by the Icelandic media to call the Liberal Party on their B.S. have been lacking or unsuccessful.

On a lighter note, and in spirit of the season, we also bring you a how-to guide for all things Christmas, from eating out, gift shopping and decorations, to the most in-depth discussion of this year’s Christmas book titles.
We also put you on the scene of the third EVE Online Fanfest, a nerdy gathering of epic proportions, on the scene of the Sugarcubes’s reunion, on the scene with Sufjan Stevens, and bring you all the right reasons for why teenagers should be locked up between the age of 16 to 21.

Other cool stuff we did last month? We swam naked in Helsinki, and danced with the Christmas Cat. Yes, we live dangerously and, curiously enough, live to tell the tale – over and over again – for your amusement.
Drink, be merry, and enjoy the festivities. We’ll see you all again in the New Year (those of you using the Gregorian calendar at least, after all, we are a multicultural magazine). And Happy Holidays to you all.