Author: Andie Sophia Fontaine
The Village of Hafnarfjörður
As you head south on Route 1 from Reykjavík, the first thing you see as you cross into Hafnarfjörður city…
Protecting the Parents:
According to World Health Organisation statistics from 2002, the average number of live births per 1000 in Scandinavia, among women…
The Opposite of Rock Stars
Grapevine: How did you get the idea to enter Musiktilraunir? Gunna: I think it was me and Alexandra, we went…
An Interview with Arna Schram, President of the Icelandic Journalists Union
What is the position of the Icelandic Journalists Union regarding the gag order on Fréttablaðið [regarding e-mails from Jónína Benediktsdóttir…
Getting More Women in Politics
The Social Democratic Party has newly formed a women’s group within their own party, and have planned a meeting for…
Independence Party Contender for Mayor Has a Change of Heart
In Issue 11 of The Grapevine, we featured the Reykjavík city planning ideas currently being debated by the different parties…
The Pagan MP
The Liberal Party was founded in 1998 and has only three seats in parliament, but the most recent Gallup poll…
Iceland Immigration, with an Eye on London and Amsterdam
The Netherlands has been a country that has welcomed many immigrants over the last 30 or so years. By the…
The Politics of Berlin
Examining the roots of fascism isn’t something that normally makes its way into a musical, but actor Felix Bergsson contends…
Bezt i Heimi: Krua Thai
A Chinese friend of mine once told me that the quality of a Chinese restaurant is directly proportionate to the…
Turning the City into the Suburbs
Reykjavík is a car city, for better or worse. According to Statistics Iceland, as of 2003 there are 69,727 private…
DURAN DURAN
While two young women standing in front of me scream in each other’s ear as opening band The Leaves, who…
THE SHADOWS: inside with the unknowns of the drug culture
Alcohol is Iceland’s drug of choice – a recent Gallup poll indicated that close to 86% of all Icelanders said…
The Raven Auteur Director. On film, politics and testicles.
This is how Icelandic filmmaker Hrafn Gunnlaugsson described the opening scene of what will probably be his last film, one…
Nearly Independent
While my friends and I stretched out on Arnarholl on Independence Day, enjoying the sun and watching Gunnar & Felix…
Nei! sagði litla skrímslið (No! said the little monster)
In keeping with our never-ending thirst for Icelandic literature, we dove headfirst into this lauded tome. Nei! won the Bookstore…
THE FLEECING OF A NATION
In an even bolder move, in 1996, representatives from the three oil companies wrote up an agreement among them detailing…
So Who Owns SHELL?
Within the course of our research into the oil scandal, we came across this press release on Shell’s website (www.skeljungur.is), dated…
Snúður skiptir um hlutverk (Snúður changes roles)
There are better ways to learn Icelandic than shelling out fistfuls of cash to attend classes. You can watch English…
The Saga of Guðríður
There are plenty of famous men in the Icelandic Sagas, from future brewer Egill Skallagrímsson to future comic strip cat…
Preaching History
Most of the Icelanders who migrated to North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries went to Canada….
Swinging to the Middle: The Coalition That Could Be
One of the best things about living here, for me, is the parliament. I’m used to having to deal with…
What Are Friends For?
The facts: Fischer is wanted by the US for breaking the trade embargo with the former Yugoslavia in 1992 (and…
Will Fischer sue the Japanese?
Interview with Helgi Ólafsson, Grand Master of Chess and director of the Icelandic Chess School “I believe that [Fischer attorney…
Iraq: A Timeline:
3000 BCE: The city of Babylon arises in the region that is now Iraq. August 1920: British forces, having already…