Video About Arlington Hits Close to Home

'Remy' Is on Way to YouTube Stardom

The Arlington way just got a little funkier.

Or maybe not.

A new YouTube video makes gentle sport of Virginia's most liberal community as a wonky, nice-but-maybe-too-nice haven for Prius-driving, latte-sipping, crunchy-granola-eating suburbanites.

"I think everyone's seen it by now. What do you want me to say?" said Chris Zimmerman, a member of the Arlington County Board. "It's a hoot. You can quote me on that."

As scenes of Ann Taylor and Williams Sonoma stores flash by, the video goofs on Arlington as a "ghetto" of brick sidewalks, book clubs, dog parks, overzealous meter maids and guys running around in brown flip-flops. There is, the video suggests, a Starbucks on every corner.

Yo, it's a real tough town

Packing heat and boat shoes

My crib's in a rough spot

Right next to the Whole Foods

The video, posted Thursday by a McLean native who identifies himself as Remy, has burned up e-mail lists in the county and had tallied more than 65,000 views and more than 1,300 comments as of last night. The video is a parody of a parody -- an homage to the "Lazy Sunday" spoof rap video by Andy Samberg of "Saturday Night Live" that replaced guns and bling with cupcakes and "Chronicles of Narnia" matinees.

Dressed like a Capitol Hill aide, Remy wears a tie instead of gold chains and postures with a Swiffer sweeper instead of a gun as he jokes about a community known for good government, smart growth, amicable political discourse -- and ubiquitous parking meters warning that "All May Park, All Must Pay."

But it also gets Arlington as a place that has remade itself from a backlot of used-car dealerships and subdivisions into an urban center with high-rises, ethnic restaurants and clubs grouped around the Metro.