Bjork - Stonemilker

The clip was made for virtual reality headsets. Bjork writes:

This came about as a spontaneous fruit of mine and andrew huang’s collaboration . we had already done black lake , the “family” moving album cover and the black lake “book cover” trailer and then found us in iceland one day with nothing to do and a 360 camera lying about. We discussed its potential for intimacy and andrew then suggested we take it to the beach where the song was written. It immediately rang true for me as that location has a beautiful 360 panoramic view which matches the cyclical fugue like movement in the song. If the song has a shape it is sort of like a circle that just goes on forever. i had recorded the strings with a clip on mike on each instrument. We have made a different mix where we have fanned this in an intimate circle around the listener. So as you watch this in the virtual reality headset it will be as if you are on that beach and with the 30 players sitting in a circle tightly around you.

If you watch the video using Chrome, you'll get a little control button that will let you spin the camera angle around.

Where Gay Men Are The Happiest

Via the Washington Post:

Planet Romeo, an Amsterdam-based dating and community site, collaborated with the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany to carry out an online survey of 115,000 gay men around the world. They combined rankings on public opinion, public behavior and life satisfaction – how gay men feel about society’s view on homosexuality, how gay men feel they are treated by other people, and how satisfied gay men are with their own lives, respectively – into one worldwide ranking on gay happiness. Iceland tops their list as the country where gay men are the happiest, followed by Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Uruguay, Canada, Israel, Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The United States ranks 26th in the list. The 10 worst countries by this ranking are Kazakhstan, Ghana, Cameroon, Iran, Nigeria, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda.

Hit the link and scroll down for the full ranking.

Iceland Drops EU Membership Bid

Via the BBC:

The government of Iceland has announced it is no longer seeking EU membership for the North Atlantic state. Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson said he had already informed current EU president Latvia and the European Commission about the cabinet's move. Iceland gave no reason for dropping its bid to join the 28-member bloc. But after winning the 2013 elections two Eurosceptic parties said the nation already enjoyed most full membership benefits through deals with the EU. The island nation has free trade arrangements with the bloc and is part of the Schengen visa-free travel zone.

Five other nations are formally recognized candidates for EU membership: Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey.

Bjork - Lionsong

Icelanders Prank Franklin Graham

A lot of Icelanders were unhappy to hear that notoriously anti-gay evangelist Franklin Graham (son of Billy) was coming to speak at a religion conference. Here's what they did about it:

Graham is set to appear Sept. 28-29 at the Festival of Hope, which he reportedly organized at the request of Icelandic churches. The event is free, but, according to the website, attendees may reserve as many as four tickets in advance. They may also make special requests for groups of 20 or more. Shortly after tickets became available Wednesday, users on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit began spreading the word that protesters were reserving seats for the event, but not planning to show up. Protesters say the goal is to leave the controversial Graham with an empty venue when he appears at Reykjavík’s Laugardalshöll arena next month. One Icelandic software developer, Elvar Thormar, wrote on Facebook that he’d reserved 500 tickets. According to the Icelandic ticketing website Midi.is, the event was already sold out Friday, when all available tickets had already been reserved.

You may recall that Graham was a vocal supporter of North Carolina's Amendment One.

Sigur Rós – #Stormur

Stereogum explains the latest from Sigur Rós:

The video that I saw for Sigur Rós’ “Stormur” will not be the video that you see for the track. It won’t be the video any of my co-workers sees or any of the rest of the Stereogum community checks out. The band has set up a website that collects videos from Instagram with the tag #Stormur and uploads them to a site that plays an ever-evolving clip for the song.

View the clip.  The version I got was pretty cool.

ICELAND: Reykjavik To Cut Ties To Moscow Over Gay Ban

While many nations have formally denounced Russia's ban on "gay propaganda," Reykjavik is doing something about it.

According to the contract between Reykjavik and Moscow drawn up in 2007, the cities were going to cooperate on family issues. But now, a statement from the city council reads: ‘In light of the developments concerning the affairs of gay, bisexual and transsexual people that have taken place in Russia over the last few months, the district attorney, Human Rights Office, Office of the Mayor of Reykjavík, and City of Reykjavík chief administrative officer propose amendments or the termination of the collaboration agreement between Reykjavík and Moscow, in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.’

Iceland's Gay Prime Minister Steps Down

The world's first openly gay prime minister has stepped down on schedule.

Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir retired from politics yesterday ahead of general elections today. Sigurdardottir became the world’s first openly gay or lesbian head of state in February of 2009 when she was appointed Prime Minister of Iceland after Independence Party leader Geir Haarde resigned over his handling of the country’s then financial crisis. Iceland’s voters gave her appointment the seal of approval two month later, giving her the task of fixing the country’s financial crisis.

Sigur Rós - Ísjaki

From the coming album Kveikur, due in June.

Updated Gay Marriage Map

Source.

Marriage Equality Nations

(Via JMG reader Thomas)

Sigur Rós - Brennisteinn

From the comments over on Stereogum: "I’m seeing these guys on Sunday and I’ve never heard a note. What should I expect?" Answer: "Really relatable lyrics about relationships and concise pop song structures." Heh. The new album is due in June.

Iceland Wants To Ban Web Porn

Iceland, where porn has long been technically illegal, wants to block all internet pornography even though web experts warn that such a move will likely cause many unrelated sites to be blocked as well.

The proposal by Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson has caused an uproar. Opponents say the move will censor the Web, encourage authoritarian regimes and undermine Iceland's reputation as a Scandinavian bastion of free speech. Advocates say it is a sensible measure that will shelter children from serious harm. "When a 12-year-old types 'porn' into Google, he or she is not going to find photos of naked women out on a country field, but very hardcore and brutal violence," said Halla Gunnarsdottir, political adviser to the interior minister. "There are laws in our society. Why should they not apply to the Internet?"  Gunnarsdottir says the proposals currently being drawn up by a committee of experts will not introduce new restrictions, but simply uphold an existing if vaguely worded law.

Iceland's plan has won praise from Bryan Fischer. Of course.

Sigur Rós - Varúð

As always with them, strange but not boring.

From The Mayor Of Reykjavik

Gnarr's link goes to a BBC story about an anti-gay marriage protest in France attended by 70,000 people yesterday.

Bjork - Mutual Core

Never change, Bjork.

(Via Stereogum)

ICELAND: Mayor Of Reykjavik Supports Jailed Russian Punkers At Pride Parade

That's the mayor of Reykjavik on top of the float. The Moscow Times reports:

Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr rode through the streets of the Icelandic capital in a bright pink dress and matching balaclava to add his voice to calls to free three Pussy Riot rockers facing seven years in a Russian jail for an anti-government performance. In a brief video posted on YouTube, Gnarr is seen waving his arms atop a van decorated with the words "Free Pussy Riot." One of the group's songs, "Clear the Cobblestones," a likely reference to Red Square, can be heard playing from speakers mounted on the van .

Sigur Rós - Fjögur Píanó

Filed under: WTF. But also: lovely. Nudity ahead...

UPDATE: I didn't even recognize him, but Gawker notes that that's Shia LaBeouf going full-frontal in the clip.

The band's latest "Mystery Film Experiment" finds LaBeouf's "victory rose" in full bloom at the 42-second mark (and again at the 48-second mark), followed by a bunch of other freaky artsy-type things like "an underwater car ride...a room full of wall-mounted butterflies" and "some sort of bloody sex assault."

2012 Global Peace Index

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, the world is slightly more peaceful than last year.

All regions apart from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an improvement, with Sub-Saharan Africa lifting off of the bottom spot for the first time since the GPI was launched in 2007. Madagascar, Gabon and Botswana experienced notable improvements over the past year and the region also shows the largest improvement in ‘Relations with Neighbouring States’ from 2009 to 2012. Through its decline in peacefulness the Middle East and North Africa is now the least peaceful region globally. The drop largely reflects the upheaval and instability driven by the Arab Spring. Indeed the five indicators that deteriorated the most across the GPI last year were measures of safety and security in society, and appear to reflect turbulence that has shaken the Arab world since December 2010. Syria’s descent into civil war caused it to fall by the largest margin, followed by post-revolution Egypt and Tunisia respectively.

According to the index, Iceland is the world's most peaceful nation. The United States ranks 88th out of 158. Hit the above link for an interactive map.

Sigur Rós - Ekki Múkk

From the upcoming album Valtari.