On intensely hot days in New York, which seem to be all the time now, there is one phrase that runs through my mind. Particularly when moving about the city.
“Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.” I don’t know precisely why this phrase continues to run through my head, but it is growing more and more appropriate by the day. It comes from an old video clip, taken from a presumably Haitian morning show, that went viral in 2008.
God, I love this video. (I am not alone in this regard.) Charlotte’s corny banter; the half-second delay before Arthur’s oversize laugh; Charlotte thanking Arthur. But most of all, I just love the delivery of “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
When I leave my apartment in the morning and step out onto the baking New York sidewalk: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
When I descend into the subway, which I still for some reason expect to be cold because it does not receive sunlight: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
When I get on a subway car that doesn’t have AC: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
When I leave the office to go to lunch: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
When I get back home to my apartment, where the AC has not been running all day: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
When I realize that climate change will eventually make parts of the earth uninhabitable due to extreme heat: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
The weather report is a wonderful snippet of found footage, a sort of proto-Vine that went viral in part due to its muted oddness. Between June and September, I think about it every day, knowing that there is little respite from the heat. It is my summer mantra: “Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.”
