• Icelandic Comedian Gets Elected Mayor And Creates The Best Political Party
    38 replies, posted
[quote] Last December, Icelandic comedian Jon Gnarr got a group of friends from Iceland's punk rock scene together and formed a new party. The Best Party — which adopted the informal slogan "The bestest of all the parties" — got the word out through a funny YouTube video set to the Tina Turner song "The Best." The campaign appeared to be a satirical attempt to draw attention to corruption and debt in the economically depressed city, but the results were surprising: Gnarr was elected mayor of Reykjavik last week with 34 percent of the vote, and the Best Party won six out of 15 seats on the city council. Gnarr, 43, is a popular comedian and actor in Iceland, best known for playing a grouchy bald TV and film character. He's also a well-known prankster: According to the New York Times, Gnarr's "foreign relations experience includes a radio show in which he regularly crank-called the White House, the CIA, the FBI and police stations in the Bronx to see if they had found his lost wallet." Gnarr's punk roots stretch back to his tour as a teen bassist in a band called Nefrennsli (which translates as "Runny Nose"). He also did a one-man stand-up comedy show called "I Used to Be a Nerd." His wife is best friends with Iceland's best-known indie chanteuse, Bjork. The Best Party campaigned with promises of free towels at local pools, a polar bear exhibit at the zoo and a Disneyland at the airport. And the party has also instituted a novel requirement for forming a governing coalition in Iceland's parliamentary system: Party leaders say they will refuse to form a coalition with any party until they're satisfied that its elected officials have seen all five seasons of HBO's drama "The Wire." The Times reports that Gnarr suspects the party with which he formed a coalition had assistants watch "The Wire" and take notes, implying that the new mayor actually quizzed party members on "Wire" trivia. Even though the Best Party was mainly launched to lampoon the Icelandic political scene, Gnarr's party seems to be taking its positions seriously so far — or at least as seriously as its leaders can. In his acceptance speech, the Times reports, Gnarr reassured voters: "No one has to be afraid of the Best Party, because it is the best party. If it wasn't, it would be called the Worst Party or the Bad Party. We would never work with a party like that." Best Party members performed a version of the song whose lyrics lay out the party's ideals. One sample appeal: "We want a city that's cuddly, clean and cool." The video also suggests that Iceland economize: "We only need one Santa." (The country traditionally has 13 Santas.) You can watch the video here:[/quote] [url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl2881[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxBW4mPzv6E&feature=player_embedded[/media] The Icelandic Steven Colbert. This is so fucking cool, go Iceland.
:whoptc:
Iceland is actually literally the greatest place on the planet
"No one has to be afraid of the Best Party, because it is the best party. If it wasn't, it would be called the Worst Party or the Bad Party. We would never work with a party like that." Ahahaha that's great
I can forgive them for their murder of European airspace now :golfclap:
Iceland is pretty cool.
He should set up a Center of the Earth Exploration Committee.
[QUOTE=starpluck;22974536]Iceland is pretty cool.[/QUOTE] So true, first CCP now this.
[QUOTE=Crimor;22974826]So true, first CCP now this.[/QUOTE] What I said was a pun you know.
Worst thing happened to Iceland. In Lithuania, a party of showmen and comedians were elected and got most of the seats in the Parliament, but then everybody figured out how huge this mistake was. They're shitting up the country ever since start of 2009. Worst choice ever.
Politicians and comedians... I see no difference. [quote](The country traditionally has 13 Santas.[/quote] :wtc:
[QUOTE=Paravin;22974077]:whoptc:[/QUOTE] Great post.
Ísland er best
hmm sounds familiar... [img]http://0.tqn.com/d/movies/1/0/o/h/N/manoftheyearposter.jpg[/img]
That's what you get if the common man has enough of all the political bullshit.
So this is basically an Icelandic version of the Monster Raving Loony Party?
: Party leaders say they will refuse to form a coalition with any party until they're satisfied that its elected officials have seen all five seasons of HBO's drama "The Wire." The Times reports that Gnarr suspects the party with which he formed a coalition had assistants watch "The Wire" and take notes, implying that the new mayor actually quizzed party members on "Wire" trivia. Now I have nothing against the party, but shouldn't that time be used for something a bit more productive?
Oh great, now i just want to live in Iceland. SO FUCKIN MUCH!
[QUOTE=Pacmaney;22976319]: Party leaders say they will refuse to form a coalition with any party until they're satisfied that its elected officials have seen all five seasons of HBO's drama "The Wire." The Times reports that Gnarr suspects the party with which he formed a coalition had assistants watch "The Wire" and take notes, implying that the new mayor actually quizzed party members on "Wire" trivia. Now I have nothing against the party, but shouldn't that time be used for something a bit more productive?[/QUOTE] Not productive? you have it all backwards. The wire teaches some real issues and is thought provoking. Movies can be a way of educating different morals, values and intelligence and probably are one of the best ways of teaching these things. Watch a film called primer and tell me that after you didn't learn anything.
Vote Colbert 2012
I'm not an American citizen, but if I was I think I'd vote for Colbert. I feel like he could get a lot done, as his career wouldn't necessarily be built on pandering to one party or the other.
Didn't Colbert actually run for president? I'd like to see him do it for a day, just to watch him do funny stuff.
[QUOTE=Baldr;22975100]Politicians and comedians... I see no difference. [/QUOTE] The difference is that comedians [b]knowingly[/b] say and do stupid things. :eng101:
[quote]Didn't Colbert actually run for president?[/quote] Yeah, but only in South Carolina. He got a surprising number of votes, though.
I hope the punk guy with the blonde hair and dark beard got a seat in city council.
A drug-free parliament by 2020! :v:
That's brilliant!
oh dear...
[QUOTE=ManningQB18;22979903]Didn't Colbert actually run for president? I'd like to see him do it for a day, just to watch him do funny stuff.[/QUOTE] no he couldnt run cuz like the guys said he wasnt a serious candidate and he was sponsored by doritos and other things like that so he couldnt officially run
[QUOTE=KmScMT;22982600]no he couldnt run cuz like the guys said he wasnt a serious candidate and he was sponsored by doritos and other things like that so he couldnt officially run[/QUOTE] That's true, but he still did get a large number of write-in votes at the final election.
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