Ripped Straight From The Coloring Book

August 29, 2003 9:55 PM

"After all Law & Order has done for us, I feel it's the least I can do for Law & Order" Well it's about damn time! Yes, it's Law & Order:Artistic Intent. I dare say that Jerry Orbach hasn't looked this good since Dirty Dancing. Don't leave your kids out, they'll have a great afternoon with the Law & Order Coloring Book. I eagerly await a similarly themed L. A. Law or Hillstreet Blues exhibition.
posted by Stan Chin (27 comments total)

posted by Stan Chin at 10:04 PM on August 29, 2003

I'm alternating between jumping up and down and shouting "coooooool! art! Law & Order! Together! Woo!" and then getting irked, because, okay, dude -- this is fan art. This is a bunch of geeks getting together, making pictures of their favorite tv show, showing them off to each other, and then showing them off to the world.

The only difference is that most fanartists have a bit more humility about what they're doing, y'know?

Especially A Tough Day At The Office. " "This video uses footage from the "Law & Order" series in order to celebrate the mundane, routine and largely unnoticed actions inherent in the show’s featured occupations." That's a freakin' fan vid there. Throw on some second-rate acoustic girl rocker or the latest pop song, and you've got a top rate vid.

Although now I think I'll sweettalk some of my Harry Potter fan friends into having a gallery exhibit...

(addendum: Best. Picture. Ever. I think I'll print it out and hang it on my wall.)
posted by Katemonkey at 10:19 PM on August 29, 2003

Oh, also? A warning for the "Tough Day At The Office" link -- a 15MB .mov file is embedded in the page.
posted by Katemonkey at 10:25 PM on August 29, 2003

This basically sums up the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
posted by PrinceValium at 10:33 PM on August 29, 2003

I wanted to make a relevant comment, but I couldn't figure out the code to make 3/4s of my text dissapear in a dark haze.
"Law & Order" The expposure meter's worst friend.
posted by HTuttle at 10:38 PM on August 29, 2003

Hmmm... 24 hours and seven minutes between posts. I sense a touch of Migs-olomania on behalf of MetaFilter's "Crimson Chin"... ohhhh, the pun-ishment... (props to Taken Outtacontext)

But I would advise anyone trying for a MeFi endurance record to avoid mentioning a TV series that (in its first of three current variations), has already run up a "Marathon" 301 episodes. Yeah, top THAT, Stanley.
posted by wendell at 12:01 AM on August 30, 2003

I lost all respect for Orbach when I saw him shill for creationism and misrepresent mainstream science on one of my local channels and on PAX. Truly pathetic.
posted by skallas at 2:27 AM on August 30, 2003

Here's the homesite for Unexplained Encounters which he hosts, currently asking the hard-hitting question, "Was the Six-Day was a miracle?" Pfft.

Was this victory foretold by ancient writings thousands of years before the war? Did the Israelis use ancient writings to plan and carry out the war victory? Is this war only one in a series of current events preparing the way for the End Times?

posted by skallas at 2:30 AM on August 30, 2003

Goddamnit, Skallas, I didn't need to know that.

*zens out, thinks about his turn in the Broadway recording of Chicago, ignores any modern crackpotness...*
posted by Katemonkey at 2:44 AM on August 30, 2003

[printing out coloring book, getting out crayons, weeping joyously]
posted by RylandDotNet at 3:48 AM on August 30, 2003

Lenny Briscoe is THE uber-NYPD Detective. Great character.

Anybody else miss Jill Hennessy?
posted by davidmsc at 6:13 AM on August 30, 2003

I do. Also miss interesting episodes.
posted by Busithoth at 6:23 AM on August 30, 2003

I lost all respect for Orbach when I saw him shill for creationism and misrepresent mainstream science on one of my local channels and on PAX. Truly pathetic.

He's an actor, not your guide to living. Worse things have been done by better men.

skallas, only you could manage to work an argument about religion into a thread about fan art, for crying out loud.

Lenny Briscoe is THE uber-NYPD Detective. Great character.

I was always more of a Logan man. And I really loathed Angie Harmon.
posted by jonmc at 7:11 AM on August 30, 2003 [1 favorite]

He's an actor, not your guide to living. Worse things have been done by better men.

(pppssttt)
posted by clavdivs at 8:22 AM on August 30, 2003

I think we've a candidate for Best. Picture. Ever.


posted by five fresh fish at 8:50 AM on August 30, 2003

I was always more of a Logan man. And I really loathed Angie Harmon.

No, no, Jon...remember the commercials -- it was always "Texas native Angie Harmon!" Uh - unless those commercials only aired in TX.
posted by davidmsc at 9:22 AM on August 30, 2003

Oh, and Jon -- you're more of a "Logan man," eh...? Here ya go, buddy:


posted by davidmsc at 9:24 AM on August 30, 2003

I have printed out this one, and now I will put on my wall to regularly pray to.

Yes, indeed. She is the man.
posted by Katemonkey at 9:27 AM on August 30, 2003

So, where's Vincent D'Onofrio? His character Detective Robert Goren is the main reason I watch the show.
posted by MegoSteve at 9:41 AM on August 30, 2003

I had a piece in this show!

(When I grow up I want to be like Brandon Bird.)
posted by lia at 12:03 PM on August 30, 2003

Since Brandon is my brother-in-law, I would never have had the nerve to post this here. And I never asked anyone to post it here either. Glory be to Stan Chin.

Brandon also did a show a couple of years back about Edward Norton. I'd set ego aside and link to the Edward Norton Viewmaster I made, but it's not on the site because it isn't reproducible on the web. But my wife made this. And this is another bit of Brandon's brilliance. As is (apropos to nothing) Bea Arthur wrestling a velociraptor.

And Katemonkey: Knowing the people in the show, this isn't exactly fan art. I mean, they like the show and all, but they're more just terminal smartasses, most of them.
posted by argybarg at 12:45 PM on August 30, 2003

>skallas, only you could manage to work an argument about religion into a thread about fan art

Maybe, but then again its hard to see a thread here about Travolta or Cruise and not hear a mention of scientology. I think people just get a little creeped out when they see one of their favorite actors do something crazy when in non-acting mode. Maybe its just a gig for him, who knows, but its definitely some bad TV.

Back on topic:

This one has to be the best. Frame it and mail it to me.
posted by skallas at 1:44 PM on August 30, 2003

Anybody else miss Jill Hennessy?

Mmmm...

I actually watched a few episodes of Crossing Jordan solely because she was the star. (This was between semesters, at home, when I had a lot of free time, and cable.)
posted by nath at 3:42 PM on August 30, 2003

Fan art? No, more like contemporary art mocking the conventions of fan art by wholly inhabiting its space. It's kinda cute. Remember, mocking real art has been done, and it's pretty tired nowadays. (See Gallery, Tate.) Even though doing it this roundabout way does get some digs in at the contemporary scene.

Since D'Onofrio is a hard actor to use well, he doesn't get nearly enough work, and although I find the L&O:CI stories to be somewhat hidebound, his performances remain fresh. (Except for the tipping his upper torso horizontally at some point during every show. That has almost become a drinking game.) As a result CI is the only subbrand that's watchable lately. I didn't mind Elisabeth Rohm (her Maria Shriver monotone was almost a schtick) until they softened her hairdo last season, and her credibility took a hit in the process. But although the original is pretty much by-the-numbers lately, I do enjoy Fred Dalton Thompson's return to acting; he may be no D'Onofrio, but he makes every scene fun. They should have him and the now-badly-underused Waterston fight a lot more viciously, though (otherwise, what's the point?). And yes, Logan is still the man. Orbach has been amusing, but I'm seriously losing it to think about a 68-year-old police detective on the street. The scenes where he and Green chase somebody are now high comedy: Briscoe hits the Nitro button on his pacemaker! Now Green tackles the perp! But Briscoe always gets to handcuff!

Still, all of these are outclassed light-years by the under-promoted Crime and Punishment, the reality-tv version that follows criminal prosecutions in San Diego. It may have loose affiliation with the rest of the brand, but we can forgive the umbrella, because without it nobody would watch this terrific series at all.
posted by dhartung at 11:07 PM on August 30, 2003

I do. Also miss interesting episodes.

Amen. I blame executive producer (and script editor I think) Eric Overmyer, myself. Fantastic playwright, but his style of dialogue has kind of crept into Law and Order and it just don't fit.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:43 AM on August 31, 2003

Uh, people are taking time to come up with art and fan fiction about Law & Order? Watching all the umpteen episodes doesn't take up enough of their time?
posted by orange swan at 12:38 PM on September 2, 2003

MegoSteve: Right On. Detective Goren is a great character. I also enjoy the character of Grissom on CSI...both of them are "interesting" and focused. The kind of guys that I would want to investigate my death, so to speak.
posted by davidmsc at 3:37 PM on September 4, 2003