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Why Iceland?

11/26/2010

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Well to be a Weird Girl for one. 
I never in a million years thought I would end up in Iceland, I mean it really it is the land that my mind map of the world forgot. However I discovered it to be suitably exotic, interesting and off the beaten track enough to hold my interest. It is small enough to navigate through the museum getting a easy to comprehend timeline of history. 

All my women friends know how to pick berries, make jam and what herbs to pick for their health. When abroad they miss the dried whale meat that I am only willing to imagine.

The language is medieval and when slightly more examined it is simply like the oldest English in the world, full of thou's and thy's. Initially it sounded incomprehensible, then when I was at the cinema I could not grasp any grammer when I read the subtitles. Nowadays I can see the grammer in the structure and am starting to make sense of it and even enjoy the challenge of learning.

A land decorated by the austerity of poverty in the first half of the 20th century and by Ikea in the second.
A nobel prize winning author, Haldor Laxness, who no doubt would have become one of the most widely studied and revered men in literature had he been translated sooner. Independent People and Iceland's Bell are two of his exceptional works.

A land where every farmer could turn his nose up at a rhyming couplet, preferring the complicated rhymes of poetry that make jazz  look simple.
Where jokes abound about the conservatism of other Scandinavian countries.
If you give a Swede a million dollars he will put it in the bank. Give an Icelander a million dollars and he will go to the bank and ask for another million.If you want to go to the movies with a Dane then you must book in their diary two months ahead. 

Where the Vikings managed to uproot every tree in the space of 100 years building longships and houses. If you are lost in a forest in Iceland, how do you get found? Stand up.

A land where creativity and economics are perceived as boundless and limitless in equal measure, causing the rise of Bjork, Sigur Ros and a plethora of incredible music and art in the first instance and it's own financial downfall in the second.

Sometimes common sense is not fully operational, over run by an enthusiasm that is infectious. Think of the dozens of Icelanders rescued when trying to make the five hour hike up the lava spewing volcano only to discover that it can get quite chilly in jeans and a t-shirt halfway up a mountain even if zillion degree heat is waiting for them at the top.


Geothermal energy makes for under street heating and all the hot water smells like sulphur. Greenhouses abound, in fact in the event of a disaster, (volcanic not-withstanding) they could feed themselves if they had enough greenhouses running from geothermal power. They even grow pineapples in them. 

They also eat liquorice chocolate bars, which sounds a bit icky but are actually very nice. Um.... and puffins and horses. Those cute little horses, (don't call them ponies) that are delightfully explained  in the tourism film on Iceland Air neatly leaving out the bit about how delicious they are.

Where it is dark half the year and all the drivers squint into the sun as it only lazily lifts off the horizon line for a while before dropping back down a few hours later. This time of the year I sit in the outdoor hot tub after my swim in the afternoon and the sky is pitch black.  I can see the Reykjavik church spires and hear the old men talking about their day as they rejuvenate after a gentle swim and workout followed by a sauna and ending with a soak. 

Then there is the other half of the year where children play outside up to 10pm at might in broad daylight and parties go on for ever. Some Icelanders are like bears, they sleep long in the winter and little in the summer.

If you want to play in this life, Iceland is a playground, a creative conundrum, a magical moment. Unique in it's spirit, it is a magnet for some foreigners that have been captivated enough to come and make a whole new life here. It is infinitely fascinating.

Iceland's Weird Girls Project are part of the magic and I can't wait.

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Marching for Equality and equal pay in Iceland Oct 25th 2010

10/19/2010

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Well it certainly seems Weird that women do not get equal pay, and I intend to participate! I will march my womanly feet to the bone.
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Skotturnar is an organisation that ties together all the women's coalitions in Iceland, counting over 10.000 members (for example all the women's clubs in Iceland). We're planning and preparing for the Women's Strike on October 25th. Women are urged to walk out of their workplaces at 14:25 and gather in downtown Reykjavík. We're expecting 100.000 people to attend. The Women's Strike in 1975 drew fifty thousand women, and 75.000 women attended in 2005. We are going to march down Skólavörðustígur (after having gathered by Hallgrímskirkja), demanding equal pay for women. As a matter of fact, women in Iceland have 65% of men's pay, and yet we're doing far better in matters of gender equality than most other countries in the world. The march will lead to Arnarhóll, where a rally will take place on a large stage. The cream of the crop will address the crowd, including women like Rashida Manjoo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the world's first female president. Our focal point is the battle against gender violence, paying special attention to men's sexual violence against women.

women_strike_back_iceland.pdf
File Size: 450 kb
File Type: pdf
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Airwaves - Ghostigital and The Weird Girls Project!

10/17/2010

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I saw some great bands at Airwaves this year including Ourlives, Cliff Clavin, Amiina, Efterklang, Lay Low, Seabear, Ölafur Arnalds, and the legendary Ghostigital with Episode 5 of the Weird Girls Project, Hovering Hoover Skates.
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Iceland Airwaves Music Festival!

10/13/2010

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I would like to thank Nick Knowles and the Iceland Airwaves Music Festival for the passes for myself as well as for the Kickstarter pledges. Every year 100's of Icelandic bands and a smattering of foreign ones play in venues day and night all over Reykjavik. Journalists from all over the world come to report on the Icelandic music scene.

Tonight I want to see Mammut. A previous review sums them up. The whole of Reykjavik is alive with the sound of music!
The group is a powerhouse on stage, delivering series of searing post-punk songs that were terrifically fractured and neurotic. Guitarists Arnar and Alexandra deliver notes in tight clusters, and the songs strike like stabs to the chest. Vocalist Kata is just as aggressive: her voice is a miracle, a collection of tics and gasps and shrieks that injects the songs with the proper sense of panic. Their set was a series of well-timed thrills, breathless and invigorating"
- J. Edward Keyes, The Reykjavik Grapevine.

       “The HIPPEST LONG WEEKEND ON THE ANNUAL MUSIC-FESTIVAL CALENDAR” -
  David Fricke - Rolling Stone
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We did it!!! I get to be Weird in Iceland! Thank you to everyone!

10/3/2010

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Over $7,000 has been raised on Kickstarter and I am so grateful and pleased. I had to develop nerves of steel to persist.
I think I will wait quite some time before I spend every waking minute trying to raise microgifts from anyone with a pulse.
It is not for the fainthearted. But thanks you so much to everyone who believes in the project. I am going to have a small rest now.


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October 9 and 10 in London, see you there!

9/21/2010

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The absolutely beautiful Episode 11

9/9/2010

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Bakkus Episode 11 Premiere

9/8/2010

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Bakkus was pretty crowded tonight and the recent Episode 11 was absolutely beautiful. Naked forest nymphs for Ólafur Arnald's track Tunglið.

Here's Kitty and I looking suitably weird.

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8th September - Weird Girls Episode 11 Screening - Bakkus, Reykjavik

9/7/2010

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I will be at Bakkus, Reykjavik tomorrow night for the premiere of the previous Episode to the one I will be in in 2011. This is a beautiful still from the Episode. If you are in Iceland come along! Screening starts at 9pm, bar opens at 8!
Tryggvata 22-Naustamegin
Reykjaivk 101

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Jon Gnarr - The Mayors Address in Iceland this week

8/29/2010

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The odds of you being in Reykjavík are not great. The greatest part of mankind is elsewhere. It is scientifically proven. When I was little, I would often ask myself why I had been born in Reykjavík. Is it a coincidence where one is born? Is it subject to some universal law? Did I exist in any form before
I was born? Did I have anything to do with where I was born? Why did Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler not bear any children? Did they not try to? Can it be that no child wanted them as parents? 


I don’t know, but I do not believe in coincidence. I do not believe that God plays dice, especially not when human lives are concerned. These thoughts inevitably lead one to consider Schrödinger's cat. He is probably one of the most famous cats in the world (maybe after Ninja Cat). Still no one knows what it was called? Whatwas Schrödinger's cat called? Abracadabra? I don’t remember. Let’s call it Phoenix. That is a common name for cats. Phoenix was of the nature that it both existed and not. Therefore, it always existed, and even if Schrödinger killed his cat in a rather tasteless manner, it is still alive at Schrödinger's house, while Schrödinger himself has been dead for a long time:

Does this mean that I always existed, or that I never existed and do therefore not exist now? That can’t be! It would mean that all our existence was unreal and only existed in our own imagination. If I do not exist, then neither do you. I have a hard time believing that. The facts speak for themselves. If I am not real, then how could I fly to Finland, send myself a post card with a picture of Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland, fly back home and welcome the mailman that brought me the card? I don’t know. 


I am one of many Icelanders that believe in elves and trolls. I mainly believe in Moomin elves. It is more of a certainty than a belief. I have seen them and touched them. I know they exist. I have been to Moominworld in Naantali, Finland. I have evidence; photographs, video recordings and witnesses. I had a good talk with Moomin Papa. He told me that life in Moominvalley was much better after Finland joined the EU. He encouraged us Icelanders to join the EU. He also said that the Moomins had always existed, long before Tove Jansson “invented” them. The Moomins are eternal, at least in books.

I hope these thoughts shed some light on the history of Reykjavík and its culture. I hope you enjoy your time in Reykjavík, that you go swimming a lot and tell all your friends how fun Reykjavík is, and how everyone is always happy there and that you will never forget your hotel, Suðurlandsbraut and the eternally young cat Phoenix.
Jón Gnarr, Mayor of Reykjavík
Reproduced from the Reykjavik Grapevine

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