Singer Laufey Sets A Record, Snowpocalypse Weekend & EU Debate

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

500 Travelers Stuck In North Iceland Because Of A Blizzard  

While weather conditions remained fairly uninteresting in Reykjavík a blizzard closed the road between Reykjavík and Akureyri this Sunday, which meant that up to 500 people had to unexpectedly had to spend the night in various hotels and guesthouses, and for dozens, the local schools were opened up to shelter people. 

Nordic PMs Meet To Hang Out With Canadian PM Mark Carney

The Nordic PMs met in Oslo on Saturday, along with Mark Carney, who’s stature in the international political landscape risen significantly over the past months, and dramatically after a speech he gave in Davos earlier this year. The speech in question was also probably on Iceland’s MP Kristrún Frostadóttir mind when she commented after the meeting, that “We have had concerns about Greenland, we have concerns about the situation in Europe regarding Ukraine, but we are not afraid. We also see this as a way to reshape alliances. Although we are not excluding anyone, we are also just broadening our horizons, and I think this group, together with Canada, shows that there are great opportunities out there."

EU Debate Takes Over Icelandic Discourse

The upcoming EU referendum has been heavily debated over the past week, and we’ve already had enough.

Laufey Lín Performed For 36.000 Icelanders This Weekend

With two concerts in a hall that takes 18.000 guests, Musical Superstar Laufey Lín, may have shattered a national record.

Tourists Cause More Serious Road Accidents Than Drunk Or Young Drivers

According to Reynir Bjarni Egilsson, of the insurance company VÍS, who said, last week that "There is often talk of perhaps dangerous groups such as young drivers and drunk drivers, but foreign tourists are causing more serious and fatal accidents per year than these groups that are most often discussed. We think it is well worth drawing attention to them in order to generate debate about whether i

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Oh, go online. The Ricky Agrippan also has an online store. It funds our journalism. Go shop there and it helps feed our journalists just like these skis serving fat pipe bread. Hello and welcome to Iceland Roundup. We're me, Young Tristy.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

He did it all by himself.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Do it again. Can't wait his turn to talk. Yeah, I missed the last last week's episode. Do uh attempt of rounding up the last week of Icelandic News. Yeah. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_05 0:48

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

I think we'll try to get through uh about five items that I've written down for this show. It's uh the 500 tourists and travelers stuck in northwest Iceland because of Blizzard, the Nordic MP PMs, yeah, PMs hanging out with uh MPs. Yeah. Really?

SPEAKER_05 1:14

Are you are you allowed is the PM allowed to be an MP? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Really?

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Yeah. Uh it's preferred. Uh the last week's EU debate, dumbness. Um the uh fact that Levelin performed for about 36,000 Icelanders this past weekend, which sounds like a record to me.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

And uh and had her fizzy nectar slurped by many enjoyers of her her beverage. Yeah, and sponsored beverage.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

I really did not connect the dots there until the last second.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

That's the joke. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

And then uh there was uh an interview with um an insurance company executive who was telling that tourists cause more serious road accidents than drunk or young drivers in Iceland. So we'll get through some of these things, hopefully.

SPEAKER_05 2:08

Aren't a lot of these tourists young and drunk?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

No, you can't be young. Like you have to be middle-aged to be able to afford a trip to Iceland.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

Or surely you can send your alcoholic children on vacation if you have enough money. It's a funny story because you rent a car.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Have you ever heard the story about when um Trump's kids were in town? Uh this is 10-15 years ago, I think it was Eric Trump. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:34

Are there any swastikas in this story? What is the sound? It's the sound of the police.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Ooh. So there is like I I you know, I shouldn't be like Did this stay at Nietzsche and Nietzsche and Hotel? I can't remember. So this is such a long time ago that I just like the alleged story didn't have a lot of details except for like a lot of drugs and a lot of cocaine. Really? Yeah, I know. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_05 3:02

All of it sipped from David Lotson's samovar, I'm sure. Possibly. But uh where do you guys want to start this this week? I feel like we were already on a on a strong all the co cocaine? Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm I'm feeling it.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:18

I'm like It's better this week.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Well. Yeah. No, uh I I I went to uh Suma Boosters. You went to a summer cottage?

SPEAKER_05 3:29

Yeah. Nice. In America it's called a cabin. A cabin. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Okay. Was it nice?

SPEAKER_02 3:35

It was nice. It was newly renovated cabins of the press union. Press union.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Oh yeah, how is it?

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Amazing. I went I've been to both the uh renovated houses now uh in a two-week span. Yeah, I uh And you're here on this podcast to review them. No, no, I was gonna say like uh there was like a snowstorm. I I don't know if it's categorized as a blizzard, but there were like What's the difference?

SPEAKER_05 4:06

A snowstorm isn't a snowstorm a blizzard?

SPEAKER_02 4:08

I don't know. I don't know. Let's call it snopocalypse. But I counted like on a five kilometer stretch of road, I counted like six cars, uh rent uh like rental cars. Rental cars that just gave up. No, they're just like off the road in a ditch. Oh wow, lost control. Like I stopped twice because there was some like cold tourists standing on the side of the road. And I was just like, Are you okay? They're like, I don't know. I am waiting. I'm waiting to die. So this insurance boss is like maybe he's onto something.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

He may be onto something. Um I think I mean we we can break it down in a sense because uh Break it down, break it down first of all, we do have tourists coming from some unspecified countries that haven't done a lot of driving to begin with. Antarctica. And secondly, we have winter conditions here that are fairly alien to most drivers, regardless of their experience.

SPEAKER_05 5:14

You'd think the Antarctican drivers would be familiar with these conditions.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Yeah, there used to be like the for them, like they don't really have to stay on the road. They're just they're just staying on the road.

SPEAKER_05 5:25

That's one of the great luxuries of Antarctica, isn't it? You can just drive anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

You can drive anywhere nowhere unless you have a the only thing you have to look at is to not hit the penguin, but otherwise you're fine.

SPEAKER_05 5:32

Yeah, or fall into a miles deep crevasse and never be seen again.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yeah, I was gonna uh say that thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Well, at least your vehicle won't obstruct the view. No, so that takes a good point, though. That's a good understandable that people find themselves in trouble here. Um and I mean over this weekend uh there was a lot of snow issues, traffic, snow related issues.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, I mean i it makes sense. When I I spent some months in Australia when I was like 18 or 19, and last year. Yeah. It was like two years ago. And I mean I behaved like an idiot because I didn't know about the like which spiders to like avoid and scorpions and some some insects I like I didn't know existed. Well you you you know the locals were like, are you stupid? And I was just like, Yes.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Yes, I am in this specific way. I am very stupid.

SPEAKER_05 6:32

So if there's like too many spiders piled up on the road, it's better to just pull over and wait for the the spiders to stop falling from the sky.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

You can like take the same approach as uh some people are like suggesting that we do uh with our foreign policy. We just lay down and wait for this thing to to pass.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

Wait for the the spiders to have their way with you and yeah. Just lie back and think of Iceland. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

That's rough. That sounds like uh spider's advice from Queen Victoria.

SPEAKER_05 7:08

I I like to be uh reminded of the spider situation. Queen Victoria? Yeah. But uh so I don't know why. This is this is a highly confusing episode here.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

So but uh uh I think like at least you know the the in this interview with this this uh insurance executive, he he didn't go into any like specifics or or any sort of numbers, but I mean this sounds like it's possibly true. And uh I we I think we all have some anecdotes about uh you know bad some sort of moderately bad w weather conditions and people not knowing how to deal with them and being tourists.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Like uh you know, the road you were taking probably to get to that summer house is Are you talking about the road uh I mean every road in the country was that's been affected. It was just like to go past Loward. Yeah. I mean, it's not a terrible road. No. It's a nice road. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:14

I mean uh Yeah, like the most traversed uh you know, well-maintained roads in the country were probably it's so much fucking snow this past month, it's it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Yeah, but uh I mean to to put the so the one of the anecdotes I have is that I went to uh Thorrablot.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Oh, are we gonna announce the anecdotes we have?

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Uh yes. Okay. And or if you want to, if you know you're going to know to hit the fast forward.

SPEAKER_05 8:44

Skip, skip, skip. Uh so what is the thorrablot though?

SPEAKER_03 8:48

I mean, I think you gotta Oh that's that's you know, this meetup annual festival in like January, February where we all meet up, get really drunk, and eat spoiled food.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

But uh rotten or fermented like scoffage. Yeah, no cheese. Yeah, like uh sour whale and stuff like that. Dead animals, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um and pissed on.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

I at that point I had been living abroad for a while, and it was winter, and we were trying to get to the place where the thing was going down, which is Louat. And we just kind of made it with the thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

We just kind of made it over there. It's an hour's drive, as you know. Yeah. Uh before the road closed. Yeah. And uh did you go uh over Mosel City? No, the other way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:37

No.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

No. And the thing that kind of surprised me was the first of all that the road was getting closed. Yeah. That was uh that was new to me. Yeah. And the second of all, same experience as you had, there were cars all over the place, and it didn't seem justifiable to my experience. But it the fact was it was just not locals. So one of the things that have changed.

SPEAKER_05 9:57

If only someone in those stranded cars had thought to bring rotten animal bits and that it could have just had a party right there by the side of the road. Yeah, they just drink each other's piss. But anyway, that is that is the you know, six of one.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Or the antifries, I guess you can drink the antifries. It goes well with shark. Oh yeah. Oh, you can. This is not medical advice. Um this is regular consumer advice. So so you know, that's one thing. Like we'd have a blister, but technically the road would not be closed, right? Yeah. That's because you know, back 10-15 years ago, the assumption was just made, you know, people just know not to go. And if they are if they are, if they do go, they know they can actually do it.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Yeah, and I mean when the roads closed, it was like you really cannot. But then they were like literally closed by snow. Yeah, and Gandalf. And Gandalf, yeah. Thou shalt not pass.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

No, but um I guess this obviously has changed because uh if you allow people who are not familiarized with the conditions to enter like these, say with these mountain passes, uh, you'll end up with like piles of cars everywhere, and then you know, plowing the snow will be impossible. Yeah, you so it all makes sense.

SPEAKER_05 11:17

For the longest time, like I feel like we've been a country that just sort of leaves the warning labels off of stuff and and just you know let the chips fall where they may. Yeah. I feel like usually if someone dies in a stupid way, the parents are blamed. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Uh yeah, maybe sadly for the parents.

SPEAKER_05 11:35

I mean, I I experienced a lot of this. There's a lot of like like when I have like a car problem and I start asking people about it, like in my family, it's just like, oh, I gotta, you know, this, you know, I don't even really know what to do. And they just look at me like I'm, you know, like I I don't know, like I just crawled out of the sewer or something. Like there's just you don't know what to do. Like they they laugh, they think it's funny. This is like, I you know, I was in an accident. I don't know if you know, you don't nobody told no, nobody fucking told me this. Yeah. There is this, there is this sort of assumption. I don't know what you know what fucking chuckle fuck school they go and an international upbringing.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

I mean, you lived abroad. You you missed the Leafsligne team much.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

Right. No. I was only abroad for like four years. I went to Leafslickni. Well, the thing is that it was just like anything. My dad loves cars as well. Like I don't understand like why he didn't tell like you know, so Leafslickne is what?

SPEAKER_03 12:35

I the joy of life. It's a class you took.

SPEAKER_05 12:38

In Iceland, you must be taught to to enjoy life. So it's not a natural thing.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

So it's a how to like navigate normal things in life kind of a class.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Yeah, yeah, but it I mean you're not taught to like change the tires of your car or something like that.

SPEAKER_05 12:53

But it's like there is a like umfer the Freslaw. You can go to like I mean they they have that in other countries as well. Yeah. Like prep for driving school, like traffic.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Well, I mean, when you take the driver's license, you're are supposed to uh like be taught how to like check the oil and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 13:15

Yeah, but it it but it kind of depends on like what part of the year you do driving license in, I've noticed. Because like people who had to do their driver's license in the winter for one reason or another.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Yeah. If they're born in January.

SPEAKER_05 13:27

Yeah, yeah. They Oh, that's why. Okay. I was like, wow, what a weird fucking thing to do. But I guess they they yeah. Uh yeah, they they know so much more about like you know, car maintenance than you know, idiots like me who just did it in the middle of summer and was just like, oh, this is a breeze. A child could drive this car.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

I I wonder also if one part of the reason why nobody knows how to change the tire anymore is the fact that uh we don't have gravel roads everywhere anymore. So you don't really encounter those problems as much as you used to.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Yeah. But flat tires.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

You mean as well. No, because no one ever maintains them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the so-called infrastructure depth we have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

So what I think five times last year I got like uh a screw or a nail in the tire of my car. It's like driving past one of the gasilian work uh places. Uh what's it called? It's like construction areas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

That's a problem.

SPEAKER_05 14:25

I I think I've, you know, uh first world problem griped about this before on this show, but I I heard from somebody that like um that we we uh we import an inferior It's like a magic one. Oh, you want some? No, thanks. You sure you want some? Yeah. Okay. I'm not selling it. Uh we import like an inferior asphalt because it's cheaper. Yeah. And it act and because in other cold places they have fixed this problem. They have like asphalt that is chemically designed to withstand the changes in temperature and the spike tires.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

It also has to do with the fact that we don't really have any material in Iceland. Uh all our like rocks are pretty soft. I mean they are well suited for making like uh concrete and and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 15:21

And those little sculptures you can buy at the airport.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah, they're amazing for that. But you cannot really I mean you you would have to import basically everything uh to make this asphalt stronger and suitable for the environment. But that would be like extremely ridiculously expensive.

SPEAKER_05 15:41

Well, it sucks because we can't make soft sand either. Like if you go to like Neutralswijk, the fake beach, the sand is made of like pearls, or no, not pearls, um shells in this factory up in fucking Borkafeld, and it's like yeah, it's like sandpaper. It's nice.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Yeah, it cleans your feet really well. Um so I was gonna pivot move here and it generates pity in others when it shreds my skin.

SPEAKER_05 16:06

I was gonna pivot into like uh people toss me money.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

So the road did close.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

We should like note that Icelandic people get like they they we get in trouble over the world.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Well, I think we should note also that that the this sort of ability to navigate the roads in horrible conditions, in my opinion, has been going down in the past few years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're getting collectively like it's what we call Heimer Westen Defair. Yeah, yeah, it's what old people complain about. Everybody everything is getting worse, the young people don't know what they're doing. Yeah. That kind of thing. But I mean it has you met young people.

SPEAKER_05 16:46

I mean, everything is getting worse, and I don't know what I'm doing. I don't I'm I'm I'm too concerned with the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing to pay any attention to the young people's ignorance. I haven't even gotten to them yet. It's sort of like put the mask on yourself before you, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

You're trying to find the mask.

SPEAKER_05 17:01

Yeah. I you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

But uh so there was the road Hottorehede, the highway pass between in the northwest, between kind of like the main road from Akuri to Reykjavik was closed uh until Monday morning. It was closed on Sunday for one night. So five hundred people were kind of stranded at various locations on on in that area. And I think we should explain how this works when this happens in Iceland. So sure, maybe you can find a hotel room, but most likely not. So what they actually do, and this is just a classic procedure and has always been a classic procedure, they just open up the schools for you, find some like duvets to lie on, and and then you just can stay there for free. And that's what they did for uh up to five hundred people on on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yeah, it's like uh you go to the what's it called? Eat for the sellers.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Gymnasium or you get like t rooms from the schools, what whatnot?

SPEAKER_05 18:00

I mean uh you know, I hope they weren't too, you know, soft and and prickly about the fact that this is they're getting like the the true Icelandic experience, really.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

I I I think it's it's very true Icelandic experience. Yeah. I mean have you guys ever been stuck somewhere? Oh yeah. For like, you know. But I've never gone to like a field to help us do it. They weren't called that back in my day. So they were just something.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Yeah, but I I mean usually like you know someone or you know someone who knows someone at the place that you're stuck.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Yeah. That's what I've usually done. But I've also been literally stuck in like businesses like you know, a gas station for like, I don't know, 24 hours.

SPEAKER_05 18:44

In fact, the last time I left town, just like a month ago or something, I did get stuck, and it burned me so much from doing it that I'm like, yeah, maybe I just shouldn't leave town in winter. It's just not fucking worth the trouble.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

I love the trouble.

SPEAKER_05 18:57

Uh by think what the wat.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Yeah. Not even out of town really.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

It's like you you could walk through on top of like the people like on weekends, like take their bicycles and ride up to think up to think what a lot and back again and then have.

SPEAKER_05 19:15

I know how soft and weak I am. And you don't have to explain it to me in roundabout terms involving bicycles and weekends and just like Sintri, they go there to see the world oldest parliament. Yes. I went there to to to drink beer with my friends, and I was That's what the world oldest parliament was all about. Yeah, I suppose, yeah. That's true.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

That's what it was all about.

SPEAKER_05 19:36

Uh that and I went to see the place where my forefathers got drunk with their friends. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

But as a forever but like your parents, grandparents.

SPEAKER_05 19:45

No, my m you know what forefathers means. Uh, you know, I'm I'm assuming I'm probably related to one of those jackasses from the sagas. Uh probably like everyone.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Twenty-five generations ago. Um so there was the blizzard, Hotteverhede and Northwest Coast. They were like avalanches in the West Fjords and in the north of Iceland. It was a pretty tough snow apocalypse weekend for Iceland. Yeah. Um but you know, nothing nobody got into like mortal danger, it seems.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Or at least No, because we've like learned like a thing or two from Avalanches? Avalanches. Uh I mean Don't build where they fall. No, we haven't really learned that. But like don't stay in the houses when it's like yeah, you have to leave your house.

SPEAKER_05 20:33

Because I mean uh in the past week or two uh Did they have like what do they have just like a whole like a spare town that like if there's like avalanche danger, they all just like five people who live there anyway.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Or they stay, yeah, they stay in the gymnasium. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

But both like Flater and Sudavik were last year. Uh partially evacuated. Yeah, at least there was like avalanche danger there. Yeah. So and we have like a terrible history where people died there.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

Yeah, in in 1995. Yeah. Yeah. It's uh yeah, let's not get deep into that. You can kind of I guess you can look it up on Hamilton's website, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_05 21:13

But yeah, I mean how many people died in that? Just uh close to thirty people.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:20

But I mean this is uh I I just want to you know emphasize w what makes Iceland such an an interesting place sometimes is like this is remembered decades later as like a a a huge national tragedy. It was. Yeah, and it is.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

I'm not saying it's not, but it's you know, when you just like you know, when you compare it to countries of millions of people were I I literally like like I I remember this because I was yeah, I was thirteen or something. Yeah, yeah, I was But I also remember like our president's sort of um part in in trying to like step up and um be empathetic. Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Yeah she really like defined what a president can't be for Iceland.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

Yeah by being very human.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

It was great.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Um those were the days when human beings were presidents of our countries. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Yeah. Speaking of uh speaking of So you think Hatla is just like AI generated?

SPEAKER_05 22:26

No. No. So yeah. Like someone made her up using Grok or something. Speaking of uh It's like Grok, make me a composite of what an up you know, the a president of Iceland, you know, an Icelandic woman in her, you know.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Speaking of being being consequential in politics, uh the Nordic Prime Ministers met in Ostlo this weekend on Saturday with uh no other than uh Canadian Canad Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

In what looks like some sort of uh an attempt um to consolidate some of those ideas. Mark Carney was demonstrating in his Dao speech uh in was it February?

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:07

And Christian Frostlot did a specifically kinda um referenced that in her c comments after the uh meeting and you know talked about reshaping alliances and uh broadening horizons and stuff like that. So it's an interesting interesting sort of how specific politicians are. This is also this weekend also saw mean horizons, you say. So all of your all Europe's leaders who like either have like a a navy or an air force refuse to go to the Middle East.

SPEAKER_05 23:48

I guess if you did you see P so instead we don't have either of those, so instead we'll just send midfloker in there?

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Yeah, we could do that. Uh but it was just let it go. Oh, yeah, the We need those guys with tourists.

SPEAKER_05 24:00

We got the five hundred tourists stranded every fucking week. Yeah. But we can't spare them.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

It's kind of like any other party. Like if you if you invite the people to your party after somebody has just torched your sofa and drank all your booze, nobody's gonna show. But wait, what are you talking about now?

SPEAKER_05 24:17

Is this your weekend? Is this your weekend? Uh we're delving into now.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

No, it's just uh so that was uh That's what I should have done.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Someone would have seen the smoke. Did you see the comments from Pete Hexeth? Uh the Strait of Hormuz isn't closed. Yeah. It's like you can go there. The only problem is like Iran is firing rockets at you.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

Oh, it's yeah, it's like, oh, you can totally go there. You will be threaded by missiles.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

It's the only thing it's kind of like the road closures we were talking about. When we didn't close the roads. Yeah. Like the road isn't closed, it's just full of snow, so you can actually not drive through it. The road is still there. You know. Yeah, that's incredibly dumb modified. Yeah, just use the GPS, hope for the best. Yeah. Uh I mean what is the price of the barrel of oil now? Is it is it anywhere between a historical high and an ultimate historical high? Yeah, somewhere. Like it fluctuates. Yeah, great. Between those two. Yeah. And it's probably gonna reach like a permanent historical high as things go as they progress.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

And now Trump is like, oh, I'm gonna take over Cuba.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Do they have any oil?

SPEAKER_02 25:38

No, but it's like why shouldn't he?

SPEAKER_03 25:42

It's like I don't know. I mean, it can't get any worse, can it?

SPEAKER_05 25:48

We've been saying that for a while now, and uh somehow it just keeps getting fucking worse, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_03 25:55

Oh god. Yeah, I mean I just don't know.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

I mean Iceland is broadening the horizon.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

Yeah, but I mean if he I Well, yeah, as we approach the vernal equinox, you know, the sun is setting slowly. What worries and you it reveals more of the horizon to you.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

What worries me is that he's talking about taking over these islands, and and what does worry me is is if he finally gets to take over an island, he'll be like hooked on it and have to take on another island.

SPEAKER_05 26:19

He just misses Epstein Island so much. He's just like there's something about that island feel.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

Yeah, we we forget to mention that that island used to be a Danish colony, just like us.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

Yeah. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

Until 1917 when we killed the moon.

SPEAKER_05 26:33

No, the Epstein Island. Ah, yeah, it's on St.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

U.S. Virgin Islands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:37

It's between St. John and St. Thomas, which means that I've probably actually seen it with my bare eyes.

SPEAKER_03 26:42

It's wild. Congratulations. Yeah. Um so yeah, that's uh That is wild. That is wild.

SPEAKER_05 26:49

Yeah. I I didn't look it up on the map. Uh in in a manner of speaking, no. I dominate them so much that I'm Yeah. I am the the Epstein files. Yeah. You are those are all just yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

I mean, you're talking about the Trump Epstein files.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

I'm in them so much that they didn't even bother to mention that I was there all the time. Because they're saying, Oh, Sindri was there, it's not really worth mentioning.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

You know, there is no news in that. Yeah. Uh move on to the next award.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

Sindri is here.

SPEAKER_03 27:26

Yeah. And now he's gonna innovate think with them.

SPEAKER_05 27:28

The reason I never had time to be on a podcast until recently uh is because while Epstein was still alive, I was just I was just there all the time.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Yeah. Yeah. Um did you meet anybody else there? Uh can we make a game out of this? Like what did you like the the you can't say yes, you can't say no, you can't say something and something, and it's all about like what did you get at Epstein Island?

SPEAKER_05 27:55

Uh I kept inviting Jerry Seinfeld, but he wouldn't come. Oh, it's dark. I mean it is wild that he's not in them, right? Like the who are who are the who are some people that you were kind of surprised is not in the Epstein films? Like if you can name some off the top of your head.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

I mean it was kind of yeah, it was fun to see that nobody in the old Bush administration was in them.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

Yeah, those guys wouldn't know a you know a good time if it locked them up in jail.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Or if they invaded it. Yeah. Uh anyway, so Oh my god. Do you want to do that? Exactly to something else. Should we switch course to something that we absolutely know nothing about, which is Live Lien, the Icelandic uh musician, performed for about 36,000 Icelanders this weekend, which is almost a 10% of the population.

SPEAKER_05 28:53

Which is just trying to distract people from the fact that she's in the Epstein files, too?

SPEAKER_02 28:58

No, she's not in the Epstein files.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Uh but uh yeah, she was too old. Fuck really we're going to hell. Oh my god. I can't believe I said that. I'm sorry. So no, she she like I haven't seen anybody say this, but this must have been a record. Um 36,000 Icelanders.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

It's like uh a similar amount of people that showed up when Bauhaus opened. Oh, the good days of 2008. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:31

First I thought you were talking about the band. I'm like, really? That was that popular. No, I'm talking about the construction.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

No, you're just talking about the style of architecture. Yeah. Everybody was really for it.

SPEAKER_05 29:41

I was picturing like the post punk band. It's just like, wow, 36,000 people.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

No, Bauhaus uh is a like a Home Depot place in Europe. Yeah, it's Swiss.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

Yeah. It's a beautiful place. Yes. I love I love going there.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

It's uh it's great.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

It's like it's like going on vacation.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Yeah, it's it's nice. I take my kids there and I tell them they can go hide and seek because there is like no one who works at the store.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

So there's no one to say like, oh, you see, don't you miss your kids uh now that they've disappeared completely? So what do you do, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Is you like now we play now we go play on hide and seek and we all meet here where they sell hot dogs in the front at three o'clock. No, they don't just take off.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

No, they don't have like watches.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

So I They bring their own hot dogs in a thermos. No, no, we're not sweets. I I just like go to the cussy, like the register. The register, and I just say like really loudly and confidently puls, and then they just like oh nice.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Nice. Yeah. That's that's my little whistle.

SPEAKER_05 30:49

Like uh is it sound of music? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

That's uh I'm trying to train my dog to do basically the same thing, it's not working out.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Uh do you have a bell? No, I should get a bell. Do you think Pablo thought about feeding his dog each time he heard a bell?

SPEAKER_03 31:09

I suspect he did at some point.

SPEAKER_05 31:11

Dear diary, my dog is now dead. Dehydration from too much drooling. Uh I did you did you notice anything?

SPEAKER_03 31:25

Did you notice like for that for that weekend, this past weekend, uh Cobower, the suburb of Coboard, which hosted this double concert of twice 18,000 people, actually had functioning um public transport for the weekend.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

It's like really effective. Uh it's like Do you know what the like catalyst in that was? It's like they had private lanes for buses. Oh no. And this was so efficient. It almost makes me want Porkerlina.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

Which is the which is what's heavily debated, but is what people want to be some some political parties want us to build in Rick Wake.

SPEAKER_05 32:08

I mean, when I hear shit like that, I just want to live in Copeland. It just seems like they're just building a better society over there. And here over here we're just like you know, walking around in our own feast.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

There are 363 days out of the year where you can't even see a bus in those suburbs. What? There are 363 other days in the year when when you don't really have that element of public transit. But so they had like they had like a transport hub.

SPEAKER_05 32:36

What in Copal?

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Yeah, it's the same buses.

SPEAKER_05 32:39

Yeah, but uh you know it's also like this seems nicer.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

It's not Garlabad. It's also this area of Copelwood. This area of Copelwood we're talking about where this the stadium is in, or whatever you call it, is also like the most suburby suburbs.

SPEAKER_05 32:54

I stopped going to Epstein Island because I was like, this is this is nice, but it's not Garaber. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

But uh they had the public transport thing, they used the shopping malls model and as a hub, and then they set up like a gigantic Lewe merch store there. Löwe Land. Then all over town there was like she uh apparently had like a uh sponsorship or something with the local colla collab drink? Yeah, she had that collaboration drinking.

SPEAKER_05 33:24

Collaboration with Collab. So I feel like that was when they when Collab launched, it was like they they launched with some Collab, some minor celebrity, and it was like this is gonna be like a running theme. Yeah, and then it's like they forgot, and then they were like, Oh yeah, we were gonna do this.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

Like no, they sometimes do it for like hip-hop artists, I think. But then so and then so her posters were there for all over town on these like billboards, and then she also seems to have partnered with billboards? Something like that.

SPEAKER_05 33:52

In Cobo, yeah. Everything is slightly better there. They just have they just have more of the things that we just don't have here.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

And then there's like really annoying uh advertising screens on uh bus bus stops.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Oh yeah, they are annoying. I think like But I used to live in this suburb for a year. I rented uh from the parents of our former mayor.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

Yeah. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

I just wanted to like say this out loud.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

You want to disclose this connection you have with political players in Iceland? Yeah. I mean I have disclosed the fact that uh I've stayed in an apartment owned by Iceland's only remaining whaler.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Which obviously has an effect on my that was like a callreggy for you. It was an absolute whale uh carcass for me. Beached whale for me. Uh he's great though, as a like I don't know about this whaling, but he's he's great.

SPEAKER_05 34:45

Um You don't know about beast to say calculated murder of endangered mammals. But uh, he's he's a cool guy. Yeah, he's fun. Okay. I mean he is fun. I'm sure he is. He is. You do know all of that was a lie. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

So uh I I I son that I'm just gonna the only the only thing I left on the agenda. The only thing I left on the agenda was the uh I'm sorry, I don't know why that was so funny to me.

SPEAKER_05 35:29

Keep going, keep talking.

SPEAKER_03 35:31

The only thing left on the agenda was the the uh the demoralizing EU debate that started last week. Oh, it's so fun. It is so dumb.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

It's like uh I would really need a Liefslechnitime.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

Yeah, live live coaching basically to get through this.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Yeah. I sound like some of our like and for I I I mean because of our work, I actually have to like listen to this. Yeah. What's the suicide rate over at Hamilton? I mean, we're losing staff like crazy. So I I I'm not sure it's uh So what are they what are they saying?

SPEAKER_05 36:16

What are what what are what are our our nation's finest minds?

SPEAKER_02 36:20

They're debating what we are debating.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

They aren't like it's like no discussion has taken place about the actual thing that we're gonna be voting about, which is not joining the EU, but restarting negotiations with the EU.

SPEAKER_05 36:35

Yeah, like I like how all socialism debates like eventually laps into a debate about what is socialism. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Yeah, it's just like uh dumbest shit ever.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

And even they're even debating if we are like restarting negotiation or are we starting again, which for the general public does not matter at all.

SPEAKER_05 36:56

Yeah. And like, isn't it just bad faith? Because they know that like, you know, red tape like this will be like we'll get there when we get there.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Like it doesn't, you know, we'll figure that out once we've voted, and and the process can either be, you know, abandoned or it's also clear that we cannot join the EU without having uh two votes because we have to like change our constitution. And that's like just a fact. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

It's not that we have to change the constitution, which means we also have to uh is the EU trying to take honor duels away from us?

SPEAKER_05 37:36

That that means we have to also hold another pry my pewter sword out of my cold dead hands.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

So we have to have another parliamentary election and then ratify that.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Yeah. So we we have to we are promised that when a deal is made, that will be put to a vote. If we say yes to the deal, then Parliament has to uh like vote on changing the constitution and then we have to vote a new parliament that ratifies that change. So we will have three like it's like no one is like trying to like sneak us into the European Union. That's not like possible. No.

SPEAKER_05 38:17

Oh, I bet you're just dying with excitement at the prospect of like years and years of these bad faith arguments just like vomiting out of politicians' mouths, it's just like an EU this, and you that I did notice that uh longtime political commentator Ayet Halkason said on Facebook when this storm of dumb dumbness began.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

He was like, Spare me, can I just please be either put out of my misery or move abroad for a few months or something like that. He was like absolutely appalled at how dumb this would be.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yeah, uh it's like when when we're talking about misinformation and disinformation and what like all the This is just sound and fury.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

There is no information in this even.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

No, I mean, but this is exactly what we're talking about. And when we're talking about like foreign interference and stuff like that, that's when Icelandic politicians and like some organized groups Okay, I'm not gonna comment on that.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

Are you talking about uh No Heritage Foundation?

SPEAKER_01 39:19

I'm not talking about that.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

I and the connection between the Centre Party and the Heritage Foundation.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

I was not talking about that.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

And what were they responsible for for project 2025?

SPEAKER_02 39:27

But like on Friday, English speaking like uh fans of this show should visit Hamilton and read our English version story about the MACA connection.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

Yeah, there's an English version now?

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Now we're gonna put it out on Friday. Cool.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Hmm. Okay. Um we should maybe co-publish. We'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_05 39:51

Aww.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Only if you will ever show up to recording of this show with pulsory in a thermos?

SPEAKER_03 40:00

I actually might, but you will you will resent the experience, I think. No, I think um Especially the next time you're here and it still smells like hot dogs in a thermos.

SPEAKER_05 40:10

Yeah, we're gonna learn much to your detriment that it's just a euphemism for butt plugs. Like, oh really? Yeah. Oh, I couldn't. There are no actual things.

SPEAKER_03 40:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

But whatever truth that was. Yeah, like this it's it's sad that they have that they are, you know, that they're just shitting all over this perfectly good opportunity to have like an informed discussion. Like they have the perfect platform and the you know, the perfect stage to talk, you know, about like what would it entail like if we joined the EU? Like what you know, give me the reasons we shouldn't, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Yeah, but I mean that's just I mean, that's not what they do.

SPEAKER_05 41:01

It's it's kind of similar to Has everyone in this country just like formed an opinion about joining the EU that's based purely on their own like gut reaction to what that might entail, and they've not actually read that.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

I think the thing is we're not even okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

No, I No, I like what annoys me about these things greatly, it's kind of similar to the I annoy you.

SPEAKER_05 41:24

No. Yeah, he has me well too.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

Like I start drooling when he's it's similar to the whole debate about the increased tax or whatever you called it on the fisheries this spring. Yeah. Is that there was like a rational good argument against the legislation as we as the way it was put forward, because it's not it's not far from perfect. It's actually it's actually kind of bad in many ways, in my opinion. Although I agree with the sentiment of it. But instead of actually going for like point-to-point logic. But at least because of your connection to Krishnalovsky. Yes, of course. Full disclosure. But I just don't think it's gonna be an effective way of getting the money.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

But you instead of having like a debate about the uh pitfalls of the legislation and the alternatives to those pitfalls, it was just the same shit storm of dumbness and just and Yeah, just devolved into this ad hominem. Yeah, and just crap. No sort of smart points whatsoever. And this seal seems similar to me because they just don't want to have the debate. Yeah, because this is how they win. They just obfuscate with they're just trying to like what is the the term, muscle velocity this.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

Yeah, like the global right has really just been reduced to only this. They're just like trying to, you know, tug on the phone.

SPEAKER_03 42:38

Fill the void, fill the space with end-iest stupid talking points that make no sense. So it seems like more of that. That's just exhausting. Yeah. Really exciting. I totally understand why Milflokuren does it, the centre party, because that that's they're kind of leaning that way in many ways. But I don't understand why.

SPEAKER_05 42:55

Yeah, they can no longer disappoint me. Like I fully expect just like the lowest of the low from that.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

I just don't understand why, like, say, the Progressive Party or the Independence Party are pondering to this too.

SPEAKER_05 43:06

Because they they see Milflokuren get in the votes and they're like, well, gee, maybe we should just do what they do.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

I mean, the Milflokuren is doing quite well. I mean, uh there is like uh roughly twenty percent of of people in Iceland voters in Iceland who like likes uh this way of Yeah, but it I mean it's also like twenty percent of the voters who are discontented and just want to watch the world burn.

SPEAKER_03 43:30

Kind of. A lot of that.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Yeah, but I I I mean uh midflubin is like it's not they have uh some policies. I mean they have they they are in politics. Uh well you think they they want want some things that people can make sense. Yeah, like rooted in some like decades old political ideology.

SPEAKER_05 43:56

You gotta have a front. I mean, even fucking Mega has like a a front. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Yeah, but I think they like genuinely believe in some of the things they're talking about. But then they like have like imported this way of having public debate that's like not fun for anyone but themselves.

SPEAKER_05 44:20

Trevor Burrus I mean I think prep schools and their equivalents the world over have been, you know, that this isn't like an imported way of debating. Like this is as native to Iceland as it is to anywhere else. Just this like sound and fury kind of debate debate club, you know, shenanigans.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

Uh we're kind of a part, I guess, of uh I don't know what to say. Like I'm a Western sort of trend in this sense. It's kind of gotten worse every year.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

We're but but you can see like uh when Sim Duttavi, the the founder of the Central Party and it's Panama Jack, Panama Mr. Panama Papers. Well, yeah, he appeared in the Panama Papers. I mean, when he's debating something like that. I'm just trying to give foreigners context context. Sorry. It's like uh what's it podcaskibula? It's like City planning. City planning, which is his passion. Yeah. I mean, he's like he does things differently. I mean, yeah, he uses big words and it's like it's like it's uh really black and white stuff.

SPEAKER_03 45:16

But he he has ideas about city planning.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

And often and he can debate these things. And when it comes to like how you should balance the budget of the state, I mean he has some it's like he can debate that. But it seems like when it comes to these specific things like the EU vote, it's like the debate is out of window, and we're talking about something completely different.

SPEAKER_05 45:40

Yeah, but I think that's it's sort of the tragedy of David Hudson playing out again, isn't it? Because you know, he he clearly has like his own ideas to some extent and the charisma to get them done. Yeah. But he keeps getting sucked into these sort of global trends of, you know.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

It's like attacking Iraq.

SPEAKER_05 45:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Oh yeah. Yeah, you know, being at the end of the willing. Yeah. We were so willing.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Yeah, the nation as a whole. Yeah, really willing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:11

Yeah, I don't know. Uh you know what I think about when I'm I think about what that term coalition of the willing.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

No, but tell me. I think about this Tell me, tell me once, tell me twice. Tell me there is no compromise.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

That's my favorite Icelandic Eurovision song, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

We'll be together.

SPEAKER_05 46:32

Yeah. I liked it a little less when I realized that it's just ripping off the Friends theme song. But but it rips it off well. It does it like a it's like a nice sort of take.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Oh, I'm just I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_05 46:45

It's basically it's like, hmm, what's a song all Icelandic people love? The Friends theme song. Yeah. Let's just make our own version of that with some some you know some relatively good-looking popular singers. And they've just nailed it and it just works. It's so catchy, it's such a nice song. It's a really good song. It's like guitar pop, you know, but they actually Selma Look it up. It's called it's Selma Selma Biustotis.

SPEAKER_03 47:11

Selma, no. No, wait.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

Yeah, I don't know her father's name, but her name is Thelma. And his name is Einar August. Wow, I'm confusing the song.

SPEAKER_05 47:22

And they were both in uh, you know, uh Icelandic guitar pop bands at the time, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:28

Wow, I confused this with like what's the other one?

SPEAKER_05 47:31

Selma Selma. Yeah. Selma and Thelma, yeah. It's like not Selma, are you the only one not the most outrageous?

SPEAKER_03 47:37

Yeah, Allot of Luck. I confused those two.

SPEAKER_05 47:39

Uh another great song. That's a great song. And that that justifiably did very well. It's uh yeah, it's a very good song. You know, it's uh Thorwald de Birny.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

Yeah. Yeah. It's a very, very good one. So Selma Biostot there, that's 1999 or something? 98.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

No, nine, I don't remember. So just look like all of luck and out Oscar was ninety-seven, then we didn't like it.

SPEAKER_05 47:58

We really peaked there in the late nineties when it came to Eurovision. Yeah. I feel like we've never really ascended to those heights.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Are you saying that everything was better back back in the day? Yeah. Is this just turning into like an old man yell at cloud kind of? Not at all.

SPEAKER_05 48:13

I think do you know how many do you know how good? Do you know how much easier it is to find decent food in this town than it was in 1998? Like, Jesus. Yes, I do know that. Some things have legitimately improved. Yeah, I mean it is only in Copo or now.

SPEAKER_03 48:29

I mean, I only tried like spices in the two early 2000s. It's very interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:36

That explains your healthy gut. That explains your thermos hot dogs.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

Anyway, I have to unspiced thermos hot dogs. Uh anyway, I think we have to bring this to an end.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

Yeah, you're going on the BBC for those who want to listen.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

Yeah, BBC World Service. Uh and you have to talk to somebody about becoming a carpenter.

SPEAKER_05 48:58

Yeah. You're literally about to go talk to World Service?

SPEAKER_02 49:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

Um he finds that more.

SPEAKER_05 49:08

Can you ask them why they give the world service to the world? Reform so much airtime? Can you just tell them to fucking ignore that asshole?

SPEAKER_02 49:16

No, you cannot ignore it.

SPEAKER_05 49:18

Sure you can. He has no real power. He's not really accomplished anything with his life.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

The BBC World Service can't ignore, like, you know, pain or uncomforts like most men do until they die from whatever it was.

SPEAKER_05 49:31

BBC World Service is like 70% cricket coverage. Like they can cover whatever the fuck they want, and it's even it's stuff that nobody gives a shit about it. It is, it is, it is.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

Isn't that like it's on the radio?

SPEAKER_05 49:49

I used to really like it, but the m you know, the more I read about just like how like slanted and you know their coverage is and and like you know the the whitewashing they've done of you know Israel and all that.

SPEAKER_03 50:03

Well, are you talking about the BBC in general? Yeah, the World Service belongs to that.

SPEAKER_05 50:08

I mean, you know, they're it's in the fucking name. So on that uh that's just the new name. Yeah, unlike the internet may have led you to believe the BBC and BBC World Service does not stand for Big Black Cock. Like just so that's like and I I have to stop the reasonably certain about this, but not stand for British Broadcasting Corporation.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

So with that misunderstanding uh all cleared up all cleared up. Uh this is gonna be the end of the show now because I think we've I think we've just I think we've overstepped this is your last show. Uh greatly this is maybe how we get cancelled or something, or we self-cancel. Uh it's been real. Thanks for uh listening and watching, and see you next week. Go on. Bye bye. Go on down. The Raker Great Man also has a store. It funds our journalism, it sells all sorts of stuff, including specially curated gift boxes. Just like the uh famous Icelandic hot dog box. Go shop there now and fund our journalism.