Over the last ten years I have (yes, you know this) been a regular visitor to Iceland. When I think of Iceland I pretty quickly think of Grapevine. Whenever anyone asks for a bunch of recommendations for their trip to Iceland, usually the first thing I say is to pick up the latest copy of Grapevine. It immediately gives you a real and honest feel for Reykjavík, it tells you what's on, it tells you where is good and where is bad (and sometimes even where is a karaoke bar), it tells you what the issues are, what's topical – whale meat, smelter construction, strip club controversies, and it regularly makes you laugh.
It's run on a shoestring, it has interns, part-time writers and contributors and the occasional article by unpaid enthusiasts who receive nothing me than a little plug for their cute little Icelandic music blog 😉
I love their music reviews, they are witty and honest and I liked it when quality was measured in terms of how many beers you should be willing to not drink in order to afford the record.
I loved it when Hugleikur Dagsson was a regular contributor with tiny little cartoons or two page spreads showing all the beasts native to Iceland.
I loved it when Haukur got angry, really angry, when someone did a wee where they really shouldn't be doing a wee.
I loved the list of their most viewed articles. Björk, volcanos, elves, horses.
I loved it when I subscribed (you can too) to the newspaper and it would arrive in all its glory through my letterbox and I'd feel really special (in a good way) reading The Reykjavík Grapevine on the London Underground. In your face Metro. And now I love it when I get the alert that a new pdf edition is ready for me to have an online browse through on some fancy device or other.
Good work guys 🙂