Years ago, my closest friend and Iwere sitting watching Miami Vice after a particularly long and nasty workday. He wanders off to the kitchen and fills his Zippo over the sink. Re-entering the room, he opens the lighter and lights a cigarette.
Immediately, his left arm is engulfed in flames. A brief inspection reveals that the hair has already burned off. He tries to brush the flames away with his other hand, which also catches fire. Seems he spilled a great deal of lighter fluid on his hands when filling the lighter. He stares blankly at me for a second, and gives me this “oh, I’m on fire” look. It’s possibly the funniest facial expression I have ever seen anyone make, ever. I’m rolling on the floor, laughing so hard I cannot breathe.
He runs into the kitchen and extinguishes his arms by dousing them with week old stagnant dishwater.
Only yesterday, I’m watching my next door neighbor fill his lawnmower with gas. He finishes and pushes the mower off to his wife, so she can finish cutting the grass. (she does all the rest of the work, including paying the bills, why NOT have her mow the grass too?) anyway, Mr. Couch potato lights a butt and his arms both are covered with flames right up to the elbow. The smell of burning hair carries all the way across to my driveway. I look over, and see him standing there, staring at his burning arms, and he gives me *the look * and I begin to laugh uncontrollably.
I cannot describe the look, and I don’t know if it can be artificially produced, but I have now seen two radically different people make the exact same facial expression under almost exactly the same circumstances.
Will they name the “i’m on fire” expression after me? Should I try to copyright it, and can I, as it wasn’t in fact me making the expression?
b.
