At first I thought it was just me, but evidently it’s not: Birta [weekly magazine delivered free with Fréttablaðið] has the Yule Lads at the top of their trend-o-meter, accompanied by this reasoning: “They’re clad in those oh-so fashionable Icelandic sweaters, they enjoy the outdoors and have extremly macho beards. Plus they’re in much better shape than their cousin, tubby old Saint Nick.”

This would actually appear to be backed up by the number of Google searches I’m getting looking for “iceland’s bad yule men” or similar. Almost as many as the number searching for “naked weather report”. Who knew?

SO WHICH SUPERTRENDY YULE LAD CAME TODAY?
Gluggagægir; global trend name Window Peeper. As you might surmise, he liked to peep through the windows of the houses, spotting things he might like to steal [my money is on the food]. He then snuck in at opportune moments and made off with what he coveted. [Tsk. I blame the upbringing.]

SPEAKING OF TRENDY FAMOUS PEOPLE…
I see the Kiefer Sutherland fan club logged on today, prolly looking for the dirt on old Kief. I must say they’re remarkably well-informed [scarily so!] because the fact is that YES INDEED, Kief has announced his arrival. He will be here for Christmas, and no doubt he will be every bit as well behaved as last year [natch].

Plus old Quentin Tarantino had such a blast here in early November that he’s announced his return to spend New Years Eve in our fair city. While here he’ll be hosting a marathon movie watching session, featurning a collection of his favourite films. Punters will start watching around 9pm and continue into the wee hours, with old Quint providing a running commentary between viewings. Groovy.

AND WEATHER?
It was gorgeous today on this day of THE WINTER SOLSTICE!! Yep, from now on our day will grow longer in increments, until glorious summer arrives with its magnificent midnight sun. Belive me, there’s a huge subliminal charge inherent in this; a collective sigh of relief. [Or perhaps it only exists within the YT subconscious.] Woke up and the ground was white and it actually stayed white for the remainder of the day. It was calm [which pretty much guarantees gorgous weather] and when I went out to get some daylight onto my eyeballs there was a curious sky – half was blue and pink with gold-trimmed clouds, the other had heavy grey cloud and a spooky fog-like feel. Anyway. EPI’s watching that Martin Scorcese documentary about Bob Dylan and I keep losing my train of thought because I’m listening with one ear, so I’m gonna stop now before I say something truly inane; sunrise was at 11.22 and sunset at 15.30.