Nostalgic movies are hot soup on a cold day. So forgive me if, in this little meditation on today’s arctic blast, I ladle in some of my favorite feature presentations growing up.
To echo a phrase from Phil Connors’s alarm clock, it’s cold out there today (and tomorrow), with NBC Connecticut predicting wind chills as low as -20 along the shoreline. Going outside overnight, in the depth of the blast, should be about as pleasant as gazing into the Ark of the Covenant.
There will be a fell voice on the air, as one pointy-eared fellow has said, and unlike another pointy-eared fellow’s ride, we can’t just aim a clown pistol at it and knock it from the sky. Wind chill is a measure of feeling, not fact, but like the atmospheric chill surrounding Pfeiffer and Ford, the truth lies beneath it. Wind blows away the aura of heat our bodies generate, making us feel colder, in fact, than thermometers can tell.
Like Ace Ventura would, I fear what these extreme wind chills will do to New Haven’s urban and wild animals. And I hope New Haveners without homes will find refuge in the city’s shelters and warming centers. The good news is that, unlike Bob’s presence in Dr. Marvin’s life or the reappearing ink on Marvin Acme’s will, this arctic blast is temporary. The noticeably dangerous parts will only last 24 hours or so, according to forecasts.
And yet, after the warmest January on record, I suspect most of us are like Robin before the Crusades, Phillippe before the masquerade and Lloyd before (and during and after) his trip to Aspen: not ready for this. Our lifeless winter is about to be revived for a weekend, like a corpse rigged up by a pair of houseguests.
How will you weather the blast? I expect to layer up and get out there several times, because, as with Einstein during Doc Brown’s test run, my dog’s clock will still be running, and, as Dr. Arroway felt when offered a chance to travel the cosmos, she’ll need to go.
Otherwise, my plan is to stay indoors, keep the pipes from freezing and try not to think about the danger outside. Maybe I’ll watch a movie?
Written by Dan Mims. Image is a still from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), as Legolas reports the “fell voice on the air!”
