Crazy (Literally) For Stamp Collecting
As previously reported, you're nothing in Iceland until you end up on a stamp. And collectors especially covet one that celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Kleppsspítali (the Kleppur Psychiatric Hospital) in Reykjavik. And, like that convent in Hafnarfjörður, it's located on prime real estate near the water. And even has an IKEA nearby (which makes it especially convenient when you go nuts in that warehouse maze of furniture and home accessories.)
The hospital is also famous because Einar Már Guðmundsson wrote a book called Englar alheimsins (Angels of the Universe.)
The book used Kleppsspítali as a main setting. And director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson turned it into a movie, which is considered the Icelandic One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The movie also ended up winning the Edda Award for Best Film in 2000. |
So why hasn't the US Postal Service ever issued a stamp for Cuckoo's Nest?
Lange as Farmer enters hell
Maybe because it's fiction?
But what about Western State Hospital here in Washington? It opened in 1871, predating statehood by almost twenty years, and is the second oldest state institution after the University of Washington.
It gained its greatest fame, though, as the setting for Jessica Lange's lobotomy scene in the movie Frances. Which isn't as easy to watch as a man shaving his head. But if this were Iceland, we'd preserve it with a stamp, wouldn't we?
But what about Western State Hospital here in Washington? It opened in 1871, predating statehood by almost twenty years, and is the second oldest state institution after the University of Washington.
It gained its greatest fame, though, as the setting for Jessica Lange's lobotomy scene in the movie Frances. Which isn't as easy to watch as a man shaving his head. But if this were Iceland, we'd preserve it with a stamp, wouldn't we?