hell

hell
Originally uploaded by screenpunk

I had to think about Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano when i saw this Shell truck refilling the servicestations petrol tank

There's a story, possibly apocryphal, that after Lowry lost the manuscript to Under the Volcano in the fire at his shack at Dollarton, he was left that night with nothing to do but to stare disconsolately across the Fraser River at the Shell Oil refinery on the other side of the water. But the letter S had burnt out from the flashing giant Shell sign. So that all Lowry could see flashing at him in the darkness from across the river were the repeating red letters: 'hell' ... 'hell' ... 'hell'. (quote from malcolmlowryatthe19thhole.blogspot.com/2009/04/david-hard...

An interesting question is what a Shell truck is doing on Iceland. Providing petrol for cars of course. But doesnt that sound odd considering that Iceland is in a way one big energy plant?

Iceland is fully self providing in household and business needs for hydro- and geothermal electricity. Its abundance of electricity is even positioning Iceland as one the biggest aluminium smelters in the world. But ai .. cars dont ride on electricity or hydrogen (yet) .. so they need foreign companies to provide the petrol to make the motor run.

more on energy in Iceland
more on Malcom Lowry

Reykyavík International Film Festival

Reykyavík International Film Festival
Originally uploaded by screenpunk

Talk of cinematown was Lars von Triers new movie Antichrist .. a seemingly gross horror that makes stomaches roll .. i tried to buy tickets but - like the puffins - they were gone already.

Lars von Trier ís the Antichrist said an icelander who hadnt seen the film either. I found a trailer though: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO-TNfPzh_k

into the light

into the light
Originally uploaded by screenpunk

and under the bleachers

Landsbankinn

Landsbankinn
Originally uploaded by screenpunk

Icelands financial crisis started a year ago with the downfall of Landsbankinns daughter Icesave that marketed as a high interest bank in Holland and the UK.

The Icelandic government tries to agree on a payback with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom concerning an amount of 3.5 billion euros (5 billion US dollars).

Iceland got around 350 thousand inhabitants, which means that every head is burdened with about 10.000 euro's. As you can imagine the Icelanders are not pleased with that.

Tourguide Indriði put it like this. We have to pay for a bank that we have never heard off. We have to pay for money that was never in Iceland. If our government agrees to that, i am going to move abroad.

More:
Iceland : Will the government collapse over the Icesave agreement?
One year on: The rage of Middle Iceland

Flickr Groups:
Nýir Tímar Protest Against The Government of Iceland
Íslenska kreppan / Icelandic economic crises