Author: Larissa Kyzer
Ram’s Balls, And Sheep’s Heads, And Smoked Horse, Oh My!
Getting a taste for Icelandic traditions at an Ásatrú ÞorrablótAt the end of January, mere weeks after most Icelanders have…
Raising Awareness In The Raw
The Naked Handstander explains…Well-travelled, principled, and none-too-shy about dropping trou, the anonymous maverick known only as The Naked Handstander has…
Fit For Print
Tourism, it need hardly be pointed out, is big business in Iceland, an industry which in the years following the…
Uncommon Adventures – Episode 1: The Sea Swimmers
by Larissa Kyzer and The Reykjavík Grapevine
In our first episode of “Uncommon Adventures,” we join members of Reykjavík’s Sea Swimming and Sea Bathing Association for a…
Jónsi’s “Go Do” In Commercial For Philadelphia Cream Cheese
A European ad campaign for Philadelphia Cream Cheese is using “Go Do,” by Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi, RÚV reports. Using…
Monster or Martyr
Hannah Kent’s “Burial Rites”Based on the real story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, who in 1830 became the last person to be…
Oooh, That Smell
Reykjavíkurs accustomed to Iceland’s atypically fresh and clean air have been plagued by a pervasive “suffocating moldy odor” throughout their…
Iceland Continues Public Support For Independent And Sovereign Palestine
Icelanders have for many years been leading supporters of the Palestinian struggle for independence, stated MP for the Left Green…
Looking Back, Looking Forward
by Alex Baumhardt, Gabríel Benjamin and Larissa Kyzer
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Geophysicist and 2012 presidential candidate What was the biggest shock of 2013? “The incompetence and lack of…
Jon Stewart: Iceland’s Ambassadorial Nominee Has Never Been To Iceland
During a segment entitled “The Diplomat Buyer’s Club,” on The Daily Show this week, Jon Stewart called foul on many…
Racist Textbook Pulled After Vocab Lesson Posted On Facebook
A primary school textbook teaching racist terminology has been pulled from classes at the Varmárskóli school in Mosfellsbær after father…
News In Brief: February
With the month-long winter holiday of Þorri arriving at the end of January, many food producers sought to mix up…
BBC’s “Natural World” To Film Episode About Arctic Fox
BBC Two’s wildlife series “Natural World,” which features “in-depth stories of incredible animals” will be coming to Iceland this spring…
Ásgeir Covers “Wrecking Ball”
Dutch station VARA has released a video of Icelandic singer Ásgeir Trausti playing a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,”…
Year In News: 2013
January The year started with a number of dubious predictions from the outside world—for one, that Iceland was “a seething…
Most Shutterbugs in Reykjavík, Gullfoss and Þingvellir
Reykjavík, Gullfoss and Þingvellir are the three most photographed places in Iceland, according to Sightsmap, the crowdsourced sightseeing heatmap that…
Don’t Forget to Breathe: Swimming The Winter Sea
“You don’t have to be crazy to go swimming in the sea, but it helps.” So says the man sitting…
A Whaley Bad Idea
The Icelandic brewery Steðji has teamed up with local whaling company Hvalur to release a beer in honor of the…
Celebrating The Last Day Of Christmas
Known as Þrettándinn, or “the thirteenth,” in Iceland, January 6th is the last day of Christmas and will be celebrated…
Retro Stefson Go Platinum in Iceland
It’s been a big year for local wunderkinder Retro Stefson, starting with their self-titled record hitting Gold at the end…
Thirteen Things About Þrettándinn
Often known as the Twelfth Night in the English-speaking Christian world, Þrettándinn (directly translated as “the thirteenth”) marks the end…
Environmentalists Not Elf Lobby
“Elf advocates” have joined the fight to protect the Gálgahraun lava field on the Álftanes peninsula, The Associated Press reports,…
The Sun Born Again: Ásatrú’s Jól Celebrations
For practitioners of Ásatrú, a contemporary form of Norse paganism whose beliefs are based in an abiding respect for nature,…
Just Your Everyday Superhero
Gunnar Þór Nilsen and Friðrik Elís Ásmundsson, two Icelandic friends living in Aarhus, Denmark, made headlines yesterday after saving a…
Six Ways You Can’t Go Wrong This Holiday Season
by Gabríel Benjamin and Larissa Kyzer
No one loves a good Christmas feast more than we do, but four straight days with family and increasingly unappetizing…