Word: reykjavic
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...Reykjavík, Iceland In the Icelandic language the words for "money" and "sheep" are the same. But under Iceland's current economic conditions, goes a joke doing the rounds, only one will put food on the table and a coat on your back - as long as you eat mutton and wear wool. With a flagging currency and a crippled banking sector, Icelanders are fast losing their jobs, savings and businesses. The government fears that some may even be losing their minds: the Icelandic Ministry of Health has set up an emergency mental-health center in downtown Reykjav...
...first glance, there are still plenty of signs of the good life to which this nation of 320,000 had grown accustomed. The parking lot of Kringlan shopping center in Reykjavík is filled with sparkling Audis, Range Rovers and Mercedes. But inside the mall, bleary, blond-haired Icelanders pace the floor like zombies going through the motions of their former existence. "How can I rest easy knowing that everything I've saved all my life is gone?" asks a red-eyed advertising consultant dressed in a woolly cardigan and slippers as he sits in the food court...
Local businesses are trying to cheer people up by throwing open their doors. One Reykjavík restaurant, Á naestum grösum, has changed itself into a "soup kitchen" offering cast-down Icelanders a free bowl of barley-vegetable soup and a slice of bread, while just down the street a few local bars have begun selling "recession beer" at $2.60 a glass, compared with the normal price of $6 or so. But with more layoffs and further turmoil expected, it will take more than hearty stew and a pint of cheap cheer to rescue this nation from economic...
...both celebrating and condemning the nihilistic flag flown by Reykjavík's listless postyouths, Kormákur managed to capture the city's brand of self-deprecating cool before it joined Björk as a cultural export. Today, you won't find too many Icelanders moaning so publicly about their dark, isolated lot in life. But you will find the spots where Hlynur and his friends live out their days of beer, cigarettes and one-night stands. Chief among them is Kaffibarinn, the pub at the fulcrum of the movie's social world, which still challenges its guests...
...small - and even Hlynur's so-called life starts to make a little more sense. "You don't move around much, do you?" Lola, the flamenco dancer, asks Hlynur one night as they're heading out to the bar. "You know, there is more to the universe than 101 Reykjavík." That is certainly true, but it's not a bad place to get lost in for a few dark days and a few cold nights...