Author: Valur Gunnarsson
Last Words: Maybe This Time Will Be Different
When is history a reliable predictor of future events? The last time a left-wing party formed a government with the…
No Singles Allowed: The Great Bolungarvík Debate
When the first Þorrablót (an annual celebration involving the eating of sheep’s testicles and drinking of brennvín, among other merriments)…
Blast From The Past: Student Protests In The 1800s
Probably the most famous student protest ever in Iceland took place in 1850. A group of students at the Latin…
Welcome To The Old Skool: Icelandic Legends To Play Airwaves
Airwaves. That time of year when annoying youngsters fill the streets with their unbridled joy, loudness and new-fangled music (this…
Of Miners and Moonshine: Debut Film From Icelandic Director In Denmark
It’s interesting to note that despite most of them studying abroad, Icelandic film directors almost universally come home to start…
Blast from the Past: Danish Soldiers Maim Themselves Celebrating
Everyone will tell you that the reason “Þjóðhátíð” (literally, “national celebration”) is held in the Westman Islands every year is…
Blast from the Past: Illicit Love in Öskjuhlíð
It used to be that Öskjuhlíðin hill was the best place to go in RVK for an American-style dating experience….
The Square: Art, Sex And Other Nuisances Of Modern Life
Ruben Östlund may well be the finest filmmaker working in the Nordic Countries today, so for him, taking aim at…
Rock and Roll Archetype Excavated: Bubbi Live At Dillon
There is something fishy about Bubbi offering a free concert. After all, this is the man who has done more…
Out of Thin Air: Documentary Charts Alleged Murder & The End Of Innocence
On January 25, 1974, 18-year-old Guðmundur Einarsson disappeared without a trace. His body was never found, which caused great consternation…
North Of The Wall: A Game of Thrones Tour Of Iceland
The Iron Island clan in ‘Game of Thrones’ are based on the Vikings from Nordic history—but they are both more…
The Nordic House: Reminding Us Of What We Aren’t
The Nordic House was built in Reykjavík in 1968 to prove that Iceland is indeed one of the Nordic Countries….
Blast from the Past: The Ghosts of Höfði
So, they‘ve met. Not in Reykjavik as we had all hoped, but in Hamburg. Last time the leaders of East…
Öskjuhlíð: The Pearl of Reykjavík
To many, Perlan (“the Pearl”) looks like a giant nipple, a feminine counterpart to the phallic symbolism of the Hallgrímskirkja…
Crisis? What Crisis? The Icelandic Tourism Industry Teeters
In late June, Icelandair reported that it had laid off 20% of its pilots. A few weeks later, it reported…
Bíó Paradís Brings Back The 80s
Theresa May is the new Thatcher. Trump is the new Reagan. Empires are dying in Afghanistan. East-West tensions are running…
Blast From The Past: Introducing Icelandic Wrestling At The Olympics
These days, it seems you can hardly open a paper without news of some Icelandic sporting victories abroad (and do…
Only Mildly Scary: Horror and Icelandic Cinema
On the face of it, Iceland sounds like fertile ground for horror. There are many places where it’s possible to…
The Sound And The Fury: Rammstein Come To Kópavogur
The German language, usually ranked alongside algebra and hangovers as one of the main tormentors of secondary school existence, became…
Blast from the Past: When Contraception Came To Iceland
STDs are on the rise, and the Health Minister has set up a working group which will have delivered their…
Strangers In A Strange Land: The Female German Farmer Invasion Of 1949
It’s strange to think that refugees and economic migrants used to come to Iceland in search of a better life…
The Future is Coming: Electric Cars In Iceland
Iceland almost always gets better press than it deserves, and this applies not least to environmental issues. While most of…
Blast from the Past: Farmers vs. Phones
It is a tale often recounted to illustrate the backwardness of Icelandic farmers in times past: that time they rode…
The Last Free Thinker: Polish Cinema At Bíó Paradís
It’s 1945 and the struggle against totalitarianism is just beginning. While the people of Western Europe celebrate the end of…
Blast from the Past: Reykjavík Brothel Shares for Sale
Everyone knows Ólafur Ólafsson, the man who stole a whole bank during the privatisation rush of the early 2000s by…