The Icelandic President´s Site

I found this site (in Icelandic) when Googling for "Latibær" (Lazy Town).
I didn´t even know it existed. Seems the president was present when Sportacus signed his contract with BBC!

Lazy Town

Some "old" photos of the original Icelandic "Sportacus" or "Íþróttaálfurinn" in Icelandic ("Íþróttaálfurinn means "The Sporting Elf"), alias his creator Magnús Scheving, fitness champion as well as many other things.


"Íþróttaálfurinn" with the president of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and his first wife Guðrún Katrín (she died of cancer in October 1998) on Christmas 1997.
I don´t know who his ladyfriend is!

Lazy Town Fanclub
Interview
Interview with Magnús Scheving from Iceland Review

Some more about Lazy Town from the www:
From an Icelandic guy who calles himself "Svenni" on "Metafilter":

"This "idea" is over ten years old.

It started as a pretty bad children's play called "Áfram Latibær", written, directed by and starring this aerobics guy who's previous media experience was selling dubious cleaning products on the TV market of a low budget TV station here in Iceland.

Magnús's idea progressed over the years, he made cartoon likenesses of the actors portraying the parts in the play, and those were licensed to push banks, milk products and whatnot in Iceland.

Five years ago I was involved in creating a web site for Latibær, it's purpose was to promote savings accounts for kids. This guy shows up to the office, tells us about his talks with major US TV networks about making a TV show out of this concept. We of course thought the guy was completely nuts.

Without any kind of support or grants this guy singlehandedly built up a media empire. Their studios in Garðabær has built up HDTV technology and technical staff that you can find in few places in the world.

AND he can do 20 push-ups with one hand, as I experienced at one meeting.

Beat that, Walt Disney!"

Talk about success stories; here are the latest news about Lazy Town (Latibær):


Michael Carrington, head of BBC´s children´s entertainment and Magnús Scheving after signing a 5 year contract.

BBC will start showing Lazy Town on October 3rd, where it is estimated to get 57 million viewers.

We are really proud of this guy here in Iceland!

Things we´ve learnt from the movies...

Have a look at this post from "Caffeine Addict Anon".
Very funny!

MY SON the first Icelandic "Bachelor"?

Hmmm...
1 chance out of 4...
...guess that means that I´m in danger of ending up as first Icelandic "Mom-in law"...ooouch...
I´ll get to know next Thursday...
My boy keeps silent as the grave - no breach of contract there!
I thought it was great of him showing his old beloved teddybear to the viewers of Skjár1 - that´s my boy; I´ve got 34 (teddies) at the moment.

My dad´s birthday today, he turned 82!

Ojibway Northern Lights

Canadian Ojibway Cancer Medicine

This one is good too...

Hilarious...the best ever!

A gleekzorp without a tornpee is like a quop without a fertsneet (sortof).

"I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence, There's a knob called brightness, but it doesn't work." Eugene P. Gallagher.

...or maybe I´d like to be...

...an Indian Girl

Johnny N.; If I was not Icelandic...

...I would like to be:

An Indian Princess!

Is it possible...

...to live in Paradise without being afraid of snakes and eating apples?

Maybe one could just stay in Eden?

How American Have I become?

In this post I´m copying the idea of Soumyadip in his post:

I live on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, right in the middle between the old Europa and the so very influencing America. I still hang on to the English way of spelling taught in my Grammar School as much as I can, the American way rather irritates me than the reverse. I like to write I, instead of i, like so many people do now, and I absolutely hate the abbreviation type of spelling: r u 4 it?. Can´t say that I adore Bob Dylan, I just like his music. I can appreciate the humour in Mad. I like Mark Twain. I don´t follow basketball and hardly know the names of the stars, I think Michael Jordan is one of them, though. The five pocket trousers made of denim is the de facto attire. I can stand the Simpsons but I don´t watch it unless there is nothing better on. I´m very tired of the endless array of cheap American comic shows on Icelandic television. I´ll always prefer an European film to an American one, something about the way they are filmed and directed and the use of some very dramatic music in every situation, not to mention the choice of content and the interpretations thereof! In almost every film there seems to have to be either at least one murder, a court trial or a car chase, if not all of those. And free me for all the technical tricks so popular in those "big" American movies.Sometimes fun to watch, but usually going far over the hilltop.

I pump a litre of petrol at the petrol pump not a gallon of gas at the gas station and drive by kilometres (not miles). I only eat a McDonalds burger if I´m very hungry. Pure Icelandic water from the tap still rules over Coke. Icelandic "Helvítis djöfuls" are more effective in a brawl than f**k and MF (even though you hear Icelandic schoolchildren use the F words freely, sometimes without having a clue as to what the words mean).
I can't comprehend baseball. And I don't like George Bush!

Autumn

Very soon winter will be here. I always feel a bit apprehensive at this time of year, going into the cold and dark wintertime. Will it treat me well this year? Will it be harsh or mild?
The last winters have been extremely mild, with + temperatures and the frost not going under 10°C. But this summer was cold in Iceland, unlike last years that was so good (when my photo in the sidebar was taken!); and I have not been able to go abroad to get some warmth into my body. Maybe I will be able to go somewhere in the new year. Believe it or not -
I have started thinking about Christmas. I often do in September and then that sort of wears off as all the advertising and goings-on surrounding it starts!

...but with darkness
and clear skies
we start lookin out
for the Northern Lights!

See Special Tours

M/S Mona Lisa is in Sundahöfn today

Simplon Postcards -
The Ship Postcard Website

Iceland Lighthouse

Iceland by Bike

Iceland Image Bank

Norwegian Jewel

...was here yesterday. Didn´t see her, because I was not home, just read about her in the paper, where there was something about her (they have started imitating me and my interest in those ships, it seems ;) )

In Sundahöfn: The World of Residensea

The World
The World
The World
The POSH World
The World
A Floating Condo Hotel
Ship of (RICH!)Modern Nomads

The Ocean Liner Story

Did you know?

The Other Side of Luxury: The Cruise Slavery

A Free Guide to Cruise Line Jobs

Neskaupstaður

This is where I was for the past 5 days. This is Óskar´s hometown Neskaupstaður, a little village in Norðfjörður, one of the fjords of East-Iceland. A very nice place to be in.

Neskaupstaður - Travelnet.is
Neskaupstaður - Nordic Adventure Travel

This post...

...is to inform you that even if I´ll not be posting in the next days it does not mean that I´m not still on the surface of Mother Earth!

My blog/internet addiction is distroying my eyes and making them hurt badly, giving me headache and making reading difficult. So I´ll have to refrain from using the computer; blogging, both posting and reading other peoples blogs, and Googling as well.

Hard as it is, I´ve got to face facts and abstain! >súkk<

Beautiful - Rainbow over Reykjavík

Travelblog from Iceland