Author: Valur Grettisson
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Troubled Party Fights For Pets At Restaurants
The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Björt Ólafsdóttir, announced this weekend that she is going to present a bill…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: A Towering Artist
Although we at Grapevine can be cynical about art, life and the purpose of everything—some people even think we are…
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Editorial: Silly Season With A Taste Of Cucumber
There are two news stories I remember reading in the past two weeks. One was about a twenty-something makeup artist…
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News: The Top Stories, July 14th–July 27th
It’s been a dry two weeks here up North, news wise, and for a weekend the weather decided to mirror…
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Forty To Fifty Earthquakes In Southern Iceland, Tremors Felt In Reykjavík
The people of Reykjavík felt an earthquake around 11:40 this morning. The Icelandic Met office (Veðurstofa íslands) reported that they…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: A Spinning Political Monument
Perlan in Öskjuhlíð is some kind of Icelandic version of a Ferris wheel. The restaurant on top of the old…
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The Hip-Hop Industry Needs To Check Themselves Before They Wreck Themselves
The last issue of the Reykjavík Grapevine was met with some harsh criticism. People on social media raised some good…
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We Need To Talk About The Water Closet
For decades now, the Icelandic nation has successfully been using something called a toilet. Some call it a bathroom. But…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: From Mundane To Watergate
Well, to be honest, the story of Háteigskirkja is painfully uninteresting. This is probably not the best way to start…
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The PR Generation
I consider myself lucky in a way that I didn’t grow up with constant internet connectivity. When I was a…
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How to Become Icelandic in 60 Minutes: Rude, Drunk and Boundlessly Optimistic
Are Icelanders just like everyone else or are they a little, well… special? This show, which purports to teach you…
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Weird Flag Ceremony At Eurovision Probably A Violation Of Icelandic Law
Icelandic singer and Eurovision hopeful Svala Björgvinsdóttir participated in a weird flag ceremony in Kiev in Ukraine last Sunday, in…
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Strolling around with Sorelle
Our favorite YouTube star, Sorelle Amore from Australia, showed our Facebook followers around the summer streetlife of downtown Reykjavík last…
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Sexy Gandalf And Something About Abortion
What would happen if a bunch of nerdy intellectuals assembled some kind of strip show? Well, we would probably have…
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The Same Goal
Here’s the thing: terrorism is a form of politics. It’s a disgusting and extreme form of politics, but it’s nothing…
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Where was it shot? “Black” by Dierks Bentley
So, even American country musicians have discovered our little sub-Arctic island, although relatively few Icelanders have discovered American country music….
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Some Kind of a Metaphor
When I was a child, my parents taught me two things about Iceland: one, that we were once strong Vikings,…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: Squatting, And The Total Failure of Zoning
Ah, the wonderful year of 1919. The year after Great War ended. The Europeans were still dealing with its devastating…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: Sundhöllin
Although houses don’t change as the years pass by, society does. We at Grapevine found this absolutely amazing photo of…
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Reykjavík of Yore: Laugardalshöllin
Laugardalshöllin was Iceland’s largest gymnasium for decades. The house was designed by Gísli Halldórsson and Skarphéðinn Jóhannesson, and its construction…
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Editorial: Raw Talent
It’s not often that Iceland produces raw talents in classical music like Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson, the young concert piano artist…