The Discerning Brute: fashion, food & etiquette for the ethically handsome man » dogs

Hot Belts, Bartlett’s Rescue & The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger

joshuakatcher — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:22:32 +0000

• The Elvis & Kreese collection of recycled fire-hose tube accessories is now on sale at Bourgeois Boheme! • John Bartlett, renowned designer and animal activist, will be hosting an animal adoption event at his 7th Ave Store. The North Shore Animal League is bringing their mobile unit full of adoptable mutt-igrees as well as a couple of puppy mill rescues. I snapped the image above of Bartlett's rescue pup Tiny Tim the last time I swung by his studio. Look at that face! Saturday July 31st Noon - 5pm 143 7th Avenue South New York, NY 10014 • Get your tickets now, and get up to the gorgeous Woodstock, NY! The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (GOASTT) is the new project by Sean Lennon and his musical partner and girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl. Their first album “Acoustic Sessions” is due Oct. 26 and being released by Chimera Music. Listen to samples here. Opening for GOASTT will be an acoustic set from Undersea Poem, followed by Woodstock locals Jonathan Donahue (Mercury Rev) and Amy Helm (Levon Helm’s band and Ollabelle) performing as a duo called Love Is For The Birds. The concert will be held on an open lawn at the Sanctuary in Willow, NY, directions here.

Fashion Offenders, Every 9 Days & Animal Cruelty Syndrome

joshuakatcher — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 05:12:06 +0000

• Osborn shoes offers one vegan style for guys with cotton uppers and rubber soles. They are fair trade, small-scale, and pretty freakin' cool. I wish all their soles were rubber! • Treehugger recently published a list of 7 unethical companies with the most abusive labor conditions. Who made the list?

1. H&M: sweatshop fire recently killed 21, organic cotton fraud, trashing unsold clothing.
2. Abercrombie & Fitch: sweatshops in Saipan, exploitative worker contracts, zero-transparency according to Corporate Responsibility, ILRF's Hall of Shame
3. The Gap (Old Navy & Banana Republic): New Delhi child labor, Saipan sweatshops labeled as "Made in USA", Forced abortions on female factory workers.
4. Nike: Human trafficking and indentured slavery, anti-union policies, sweatshops and unpaid workers.
5. Limited Brands (Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Express and The Limited): Jordanian sweatshops, human trafficking & slave labor.
6. Phillips-Van Heusen (Calvin Klein): violent sweatshops, forced labor in Saipan.
7. Wal-Mart: criminal labor practices, sweatshops.

• A New York Times article today reports on the grossly underestimated amount of oil gushing into the Gulf. "A government panel on Thursday essentially doubled its estimate of how much oil has been spewing from the out-of-control BP well, with the new calculation suggesting that an amount equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days. The new estimate is 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day. That range, still preliminary, is far above the previous estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day." • The New York Times Magazine, this week, has a heart-wrenching and though-provoking feature article on a phenomenon many psychologists, criminologists, prosecutors, veterinarians, and law enforcement professionals have suspected for a very long time: cruelty towards animals is directly connected to violence towards other people. "... a growing sensitivity to the rights of animals, another significant reason for the increased attention to animal cruelty is a mounting body of evidence about the link between such acts and serious crimes of more narrowly human concern, including illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, gambling, spousal and child abuse, rape and homicide."

Brunch at Flore, Silver Lake, Los Angeles

joshuakatcher — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:00:12 +0000

Eating a delicious brunch on a sunny sidewalk surrounded by friends and rescued pooches is a pitch I'd like to send to the universe for my afterlife. Thankfully, I got to have this pleasure in the material world in Los Angeles this week while dining at Flore in Silver Lake. If you are a sandwich-lover, or a weekend-bruncher, this is your new go-to spot. And if you have pups that like to eat the crumbs you drop (or the full plates of brown rice and veggies you order for them) there's no need to leave them home. The menu was extensive, but we agreed to share everything and ordered the Veggie Frittatta, Daily Soup, Crispy Kale, Tempeh Reuben, Tempeh Tu-No Melt, and the Eastsider Seitan Tacos. Everything was delish, but the highlight was the outstanding Frittatta, which was a delicious egg-free quiche with broccoli, mushrooms, onion and kale. It was crisp and golden on the outside, and tender and savory on the inside. The vegan butter-cream chocolate cupcake was also fist-slam-against-the-table-worthy. More, please! Look at what we ate, and don't drool on your keyboard:

We’re on Oprah! We Eat Donuts! We Rescue Dogs!

joshuakatcher — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:56:52 +0000

Yes sirs and madams, your favorite blog, The D-Bizzle got a major shout out on Oprah.com! Vaute Couture's Leanne Mai-Ly Hilgart, this month's gorgeous VegNews cover-girl was recently interviewed on Oprah.com. In that interview, she shouted out The DB, and then featured images from the upcoming menswear lookbook. Yours Truly and the heart-throb vegan model, Jayce Alexander Basques are hanging out in Brooklyn in this image at a thrift store. I am riding a tricycle (my main form of transportation) and Jayce is clearly impressed by my ride. Although we are not really "feminine and flirty" as the title on Oprah.com suggests, the rest of the images featuring Vaute's amazing winter coats for women, certainly are. Check out my original article on the Vaute Menswear from fashion week, and our video interview with Leanne! Jayce and I had some time to catch up in San Francisco this past week, and we made a very healthy breakfast of a stack of vegan donuts and soy-lattes from Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia. There was cinnamon-sugar, maple, blueberry, and coconut. Oy vey! In addition to stuffing my face, I finally got to meet my sister Joelle's rescued pooch, Lina! She is a clever, pretty and loving little gal! It took her about 25 minutes to warm up to me, but by the end of the week I was getting kisses on the face. She was found wandering the streets, pregnant and terrified, but is quickly turning into a trusting friend despite her scary past. If you have room in your house and heart, or are thinking of getting a companion animal, please adopt and rescue. It will be an amazing and uplifting experience for you and your new friend.

GQ’s Spring Suggestions, SeaWorld Must Drown & Bad Parenting

joshuakatcher — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:23:05 +0000

• GQ's Spring Must-Haves include a vegan new-wave boat shoe from Sperry Topsiders (without those leather laces, finally), fancy pocket squares of every pattern and color, bright and bold striped ties and straw fedoras. When searching for a striped tie that isn't made from hundreds of worms who are boiled alive, we suggest hitting up your local thrift or vintage store which typically have piles of ties or our favorite vegan tie company, Jaanj.com. As for straw fedoras, that one thing we love about spring. You can avoid the wool hats and go with a 100% plant-based straw hat. LiViTY makes recycled, hemp, organic, and fair trade fedoras in some bold patters and classic shapes, and Engineered Garments makes an organic linen boater cap. We suggest keeping a lid on it and sticking to classics like these: The Hill-Side offers some selvedge Pocket Squares that we find quite fetching: • I'll be as happy as the next guy to see SeaWorld go under. The next guy is our pal Gary Smith, and he's written an article on SeaWorld and the exploitation of dolphins and whales that flooded the enterprise with a 1.4 billion profit last year. In the article over at Elephant Journal. Ric O’Barry, who was featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary film “The Cove” and serves as the marine mammal specialist for Earth Island Institute, shares some thoughts with Gary on the recent killer whale tragedy. If you needed to be convinced that captive seas mammals are unhappy, this will do it!

“Orcas are the most social animal on the planet, even more so than us,” said O’Barry. “Males will stay with their mothers their entire lives. When we capture an animal like Tilikum, we take him away from the two most important things of his life; the world of sound and family. We put them in a concrete box and expect him to stay mentally healthy. It simply doesn’t work.” - Rick O'Barry, Marine Mammal Specialist EII

• Is Discovery's Planet Green FINALLY getting the meat/global warming connection? Or not. The promos for Emeril's Green(washed) Kitchen still lists "beef" as a major ingredient, but I got a recipe for vegan chocolate mousse in my inbox this morning, and they have a vegan section. Strangely, their new show Future Food: Gastronomic Geniuses seems like a bunch of dudes playing with their meat. The video showcases these "geniuses" shooting bratwurst with paint-balls, and trying to figure out the tastiest way to serve this meat up in mad-science ways. The maddest science is showcasing meat on a self-proclaimed "green" network when it's the #1 cause of global warming! Hey Discovery, WTF!? • Rock It Out: A Night to Benefit New York's Farm Animal Sanctuaries This benefit will feature live musical performances, a scrumptious vegan bake sale, and an awesome raffle all to benefit farm animals at Farm Sanctuary and the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary! Check out what these sanctuaries do to save animals like Billy, who was taken in after almost being killed by a sledgehammer at a dairy farm just a few weeks ago: Saturday, March 6, 2010 from 7:00pm - 10:00pm Location: Reidy Hall at All Souls Church, 1157 Lexington Ave @ 80th St, Basement Level $10 pre-sale, $15 at the door (cash only) Pre-sale tickets can be purchased at: https://www.mycommunitytickets.com/event_info.asp?eventid=26496 • Did society create monstrous people, or do a collective of monstrous people create civilization? This was the topic of last week's Hardcore History, and we suggest you listen. Totally mind-bending! Could widespread child abuse and bad parenting in earlier eras explain some of history's brutality? We think so. • Learn to Lobby for Animals with the HSUS. We are only a few weeks away from the 2010 New York State Humane Lobby Day on Wed, March 24th in Albany. Join fellow activists to help pass legislation to crack down on animal fighters, stop puppy mills, end canned shoots of captive exotic wildlife, and protect farm animals from cruel treatment. To RSVP and get more info, click HERE. • Jessica Reid asks GGA readers if a No Kill Nation is possible when it comes to dog shelters. There's always a fierce discussion on the GGA comment-board, so have you say!

"The truth is you cannot blame having to kill shelter animals on an “irresponsible public” or “too many animals” when a shelter doesn’t implement lifesaving and low cost programs. I personally witnessed missed opportunity after missed opportunity from alienating potential fosters to terrible customer service to rude behavior toward rescue groups. I heard the same stories from other volunteers. These were not isolated cases. These were failures of management and staff to do what they should be doing: saving lives."

Animal Minds, Reclics of Torture, and Organic Nerds

joshuakatcher — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:47:23 +0000

We are so excited about Knowledge Cotton Apparel who make 100% organic cotton garments in our favorite nerd-chic styles! We adore their owl-pattern knits and their ivy-league stripes, and especially their shawl-collar cardigans. Steer clear of their down jackets, though and we're in the process of finding out whether this Danish label's buttons and tags are actually leather...so stand by! Keeping our fingers crossed.

Animal Minds. WNYC's Radiolab explores an ever-mysterious inquiry. When we gaze into the eyes of our beloved pets, can we ever really know what they might be thinking? Is it naive to assume they're experiencing something close to human emotions? Or, on the contrary, is it ridiculous to assume that they AREN'T feeling something like that? In this hour of Radiolab, they explore what science can say about what goes on in the minds of animals.

. Is New York next to phase out the cruelest forms of factory farming? Our friend Jasmin Singer, Examiner.com's official Animal Rights examiner, explores how this trend is sending shock-waves from the EU to several states in the US. Are veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages on their way to becoming relics of torture in New York State? Read the article.

Rescue Chocolate is Sweet Salvation

joshuakatcher — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:09:50 +0000

As if you needed an excuse to help save dogs - now you can get delicious, sweet-satisfaction while giving life-saving funds to animal rescue organizations around the country! Rescue Chocolate is a Brooklyn-based company selling vegan chocolate bars with flavors like Peanut Butter Pit Bull and Pick Me! Pepper. And since Valentine's day is just weeks away, they have Bow-Wow Bonbons. 100% of the net profits are donated to animal rescue organizations.

SNEAK PEEK: Vaute Couture Menswear

joshuakatcher — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:58:25 +0000

Something I hear time and time again is that you guys have a lot of trouble finding a truly warm winter coat that does not compromise on style. That's why I am leaking some very top-secret images from the unreleased menswear collection from the exalted Vaute Couture! I had the honor of being the fit model for some of these incredible coats. Not unlike the women's collection (favored by vegan celebs from Ginnifer Goodwin to Emily Deschanel), these wool-free coats are being developed for functionality, warmth, comfort and sustainability in cruelty-free, recycled and recyclable fabrics with features like vintage, deadstock or Tagua Nut buttons. But the best part of all? The designs are meticulous, fitted, and classically handsome. I wish I could share more, but as you can see below, there's still pins in the sample! So fear not, prayers do get answered. Also, you'll probably want to have these clever, organic tees from Vaute Couture, only 26$.