Magni the Magnificent

This summer I visited Borgarfjörður Eystri. The hometown of Magni Ásgeirsson the only Icelander on Rockstar Supernova. At the time the show had just started and of course I hadn't watched because I thought it was the worst reality show ever, with burned out wannabe rockers, Tommy Lee, Gilby (who?) Clark and Jason Newstand. I had only known Magni as the lead singer of cheesy pop band Á Móti Sól. Definitely not my cup of tea. I'm a city girl, Magni is from the country. People out in the country listen to these silly pop bands, us girls in the city listen to rock n' roll. Which is the type of music Magni has been singing on the unreality show, to my astonishment.

Nevertheless, as I spent some time in his beautiful hometown, a town that counts 200 people by the way. I began to get caught up in it all. A sign had been put up where you enter the town. It had a picture of Magni, a short bio in English and the latest information about him being in Los Angeles. I was with a group of people going on a four day hike from Borgarfjörður Eystri to Loðmundafjörður. The guide on the hike was Magni's uncle. In the morning when we left we had breakfast at his parent's place with Magni's son Marinó who the next day flew out to LA with his mother, hospitality of Supernova and Icelandair and appeared on the show. During the hike Magni's father would bring us food on his jeep and give us the latest news from Magni and how he was doing on the show.

I never thought I would say this but Magni is my hero. I didn't care much for the show when it first aired and of course did not stay up to watch it. Now it's a different story. I started watching Magni's performances on You Tube over and over again. He got me on the Dolphin's Cry. His voice is hauntingly beautiful. And he's solid week after week. First time he was in the bottom three he belted out Creep like his life depended on it. Next week he was in the bottom three again despite his amazing performance with Smells Like Teen Spirit. He saved himself by rocking the stage with Hendrix's Fire. Playing the guitar, having fun with the house band, he was obviously enjoying himself. I started watching the reality shows on rockstar.msn.com. At first I didn't like the all American cheesy-ness of the Supernova show, but then I got caught up in the whole drama at the mansion, featuring Dilana and Lukas of course, (I'm sick of both at this point.) Toby, Storm and Magni have much less to say, (guess the editors don't like them as much.)

Only five contestants are left and our Magni is one of them. The Icelandic nation is immensely proud of him and supports him all the way. Last week Icelanders realized that solid performances wasn't enough to keep him out of the bottom three, so last Tuesday night when Magni killed I Alone, the whole nation voted all night long. Because of the time difference the voting in Iceland takes place in the middle of the night. People stayed up to vote and guess what! On the elimination show Magni was the only singer who was never in the bottom three during the voting. He was save. Also, record number of votes where counted that night on Rockstar for both seasons.

This shows just how crazy the Icelandic nation gets. And how we can stick together when something vitally important is taking place. Such as keeping Magni in Rockstar Supernova and helping him getting all the way to the finals. Nevermind the Kárahnjúkar dam. This is entertainment and this is our Magni and suddenly he is the most important person ever to be born on this tiny little island. We can't wait to watch him on the final show.

If it wasn't for Magni Icelanders probably wouldn't be watching the CBS reality show but since we have the Icelander on there we all watch, cheer and send in our votes, so that Magni can go on to the finals where he belongs. With five people left, tonight one person will go home and the remaining four go on to the finals. So people all around the world, send in your votes tonight!

hannabjork@reykjavik.com