Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Early Addition
Oh! My! God! This is the best shirt ever made. Not only does it express the essence of Gothamist's favorite show, Law & Order, it's also a shout-out to us! (Yeah, we know it's not really a shout-out, but we can dream) Glarkware, the clothing arm from the masterminds behind Television Without Pity (they used to recap Law & Order: SVU, but then stopped, explaining, "It was just like Law & Order, except that no one cared."), is offering the chung! chung! shirt for March pre-order. The description is priceless:
"Chung Chung." It's a noun. It's a verb. It's an adjective. It's an interjection. It's the humble yet commanding not-quite-music cue that keeps your most beloved cop shows chugging -- or, really, Chung-ing along, from one bogus New York address to the next, moving us inexorably toward the last five minutes we just absolutely will not believe.
Wearing "Chung Chung," the shirt, will let you express your affection for the best and most memorable element of that beloved cop show -- not the revolving cast of tic-y law-enforcement officers in the station house and the court house; not the cases "ripped from the headlines" and clumsily not-really fictionalized; not the bit players who keep mysteriously reappearing in episode after episode in different identities so that as soon as you see them, you know they must be the killers just because they've been on so many times -- but the "Chung Chung" sound that really has no reason to exist at all, and yet is so integral to the show that it should get its own screen in the opening credits.
It goes without saying, this will be our favorite shirt. Half of Gothamist is lamenting that there is no dobkin! dobkin! shirt, but them's the breaks. Perhaps there is a dobkin! dobkin! sound effect in the Bizarro World. [Via reader Sarah who is automatically our new best friend for alerting us to this.]
Updated: slower kindly gives us a link to a .wav file of the chung! chung!
Check out The Ledger, a fantastic Law & Order blog. Capn Design posted about the on the Law & Ordies, a brilliant 2001 Conan sketch where all the awards were for Law & Order concepts (the "chung! chung!" was heavily used). And Gothamist on the evening of Law & Order talk, Law & Order inspired art, and the Mayor in an upcoming L&O episode.
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now if they only made that on a panda inspired T.
did someone say little league team uniform??
I know! But the West Side Little League already has uniforms and team names in place.
And yes, it would be awesome if it were on a panda shirt, but I'll take what I can get.
I'm in London right now, and it took me a couple of scenes to figure out why I wasn't enjoying my L&O...
#1: It was L&O:Criminal Intent,
#2: The opening theme was not even close to the real thing, and worst of all--
#3: The 'chung!chung!' was EDITED OUT!!!
It just wasn't worth the effort. L&O without 'chung!chung!' is like Lenny without one-liners.
So brilliant... I must get one. Also, what is the name of the Gothamist baseball team (and as much as I love the Panda - no self respecting boy of summer is going to get out there with a PANDA on his jersey!)
http://www.armchairnews.com/losounds/misc/boink.wav
I am confused about the derivation of the interpretation of "chung chung" from the music cue. Judging from the music, I'm guessing that, if I watched the show, and then, on a separate occasion, someone gave me the T-shirt without explaining it, I don't think I would make the connection. So I'm very curious about how it came to be.
Was there someone who decided that "chung" was the proper onomatopoeia for the sound, and then people thought it was perfect, as a kind of wink-wink at fellow fans? Or was there some kind of spontaneous consensus achieved by the show's fans?
Actually, it's tempting to believe it's more than a coincidence relative to Gothamist! It really is perfect for Jen!
Outstanding! I must possess one!
this is one of the coolest things ever.
I'm not sure about the sound sounding like a "chung! chung!" but I read an L.A. Times article (I think) that onomatopoeia'd it as such.
But I'm not complaining, you realize.
I just emailed requests for this as an early birthday present. Too cool...L&O with out having to wear the actual logo on your chest like the official tees.
I only hope the word doesn't spread fast enough so that the NBC suits get word of it.
My urban tribe used to watch L&O together, and we had a little spotaneous tradition: At the beginning of the ep, my friend Kevin would read the opening prolog along with the announcer ("In the criminal justice system..."), My friend Beth would make fun of the people who discover the corpse by calling out "Oh no! A dead body!..." I was responsible for all the "chung chungs", which you can hear coming a mile away.
ON another note, d'ya suppose someone on the production staff is solely responsible for making up all the phony names & addresses? With 250+ episodes, and plenty of fake locations in each, there are probably 1,000+ fake places they've invented in the last decade...
i've always thought it was "gadunk dunk" myself.
That's so hilarious, lems - I'm thinking "badonkadonk" from Chappelle's Show last night.
If the Japanese can have Dragons, Carp, and "Ham Fighters", then I FULLY EXPECT the Chinese to have Pandas.
Chiba Lotte Marines
Chunichi Dragons
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Hanshin Tigers
Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Nippon Ham Fighters
Orix BlueWave
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
Seibu Lions
Yakult Swallows
Yokohama BayStars
Yomiuri Giants
Maybe more like, Chung-chung!
The first exclamation mark suggests an pause, which there isn't.
Jen:
These are fantastic pics. I'm reading from Toronto and I'm a big L&O fan. Do you ever get to visit the Law and Order:criminal intent scenes. If so please please please put up some more great pics.
Hello,
What is the deal with this CHUNG, CHUNG...I am CPT Marc Chung, serving in Iraq, Baghdad...this shirt is really cool, how do I get one!!!!
CPT Chung
425th Civil Affairs BN
1st Cavalry Division
marc.chung@us.army.mil