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

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.

Michael Paul Crockett: Not TOFU-k With

joshuakatcher — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:32:11 +0000

Heavy-metal-headbanging, hard-hitting, hillbilly-pro-wrestling Mountain Mike Paul Crockett is not your typical vegan. In fact, along with ex-cattle rancher and "Mad Cowboy", Howard Lyman, he's one of the few people I've come across who's been able to do such a drastic lifestyle 180º - defying all odds, and in the process, saving his life (along with many animals). The fairy tale that "quality" protein only comes from eating muscle still persists in machismo culture, yet time and time again, people like Mike prove that the idea that eating muscle makes you muscular is as silly as eating a feather to fly. I had some time to chat with Mike recently, and here's our interview:

DB: You have such an unlikely and amazing story - how and when did you become a vegan?

MPC: Thank you. I have only been a vegan for a few months.....but I have been a vegetarian since March 31, 2009. I made the decision to become a vegetarian after meeting my girlfriend, who has been veg for 15+ years. She made a suggestion that I cut back on meat, because she was worried about my gargantuan consumptions of animal flesh: 3-5 lbs a day! I had considered becoming vegetarian several times in my life prior to meeting her, but never went through with it because of the whole "animal protein = strength" bullshit that is fed down society"s throat, but once she showed me some slaughterhouse videos, that was THE END of my meat consumption! A few months ago, I decided that I cannot support ANY kind of animal cruelty, so I gave up eggs and dairy, and now as a vegan, I am looking into changing out the leather seats in my truck, getting rid of my leather wallet, boots, jacket, etc! In my 31 years on this planet I have selfishly taken so much from animals that had no choice in their death, and dammit, I will spend the rest of my life making it right to the animals that I would have taken from had I not become a vegan....

DB: As a self-declared "hillbilly" and country boy, how is your new lifestyle perceived by your friends and family?

MPC: My family don't really understand my passion, since I used to be the one in the family to BBQ and cook the steaks to perfection, but they know when my mind is made up about something there ain't no changing my mind about things - honestly it hardly ever gets talked about, I have a wonderful family, my friends are also understanding, and a lot of them always ask me what I eat so they can keep those groceries on hand in case I drop by. But where I come from in East Texas, most people think something is wrong with you if you don't wake up and shove fried chicken and beef brisket down yer throat - but I can kick their asses, so whats the problem? That's right, there ain't one. Lol.....

DB: Who is Mountain Mike, and how did you create this persona?

MPC: When I became a professional wrestler in Jan 2009, I created the character known as Mountain Mike because I was weighing over 500 pounds, and always wore overalls......it really made the crowd pop, I came out there in the ring looking like a big ol' mountain man, and everyone loved it, especially the kids!!

DB: Only because I know you must love answering this question a thousand times a day, where do you get your protein?

MPC: I get plenty of plant protein from a wide variety of sources: black beans (which are an absolute staple of my diet), peanut butter, hummus, whole grains (brown rice, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa), soymilk and Ezekiel cereal. I definitely got to be a morbidly obese 535 pounds by consuming huge amounts of animal protein and FAT! Now that all of my protein is plant based, I am much leaner (425 lbs), stronger, and more agile than I was when I was eating animals, and I am continuing to drop that nasty fat that I accumulated while eating unhealthy animal protein.

DB: Do you like to cook? What is your favorite dish, and what is your specialty?

MPC: As long as I can make it quick, I like to cook! And favorite dish? BLACK BEANS AND BROWN RICE! My specialty is a healthy vegetable stir-fry with peanuts and brown rice: quick, easy, and too spicy for most human beings. Haha!

DB: What do you wan to say to men who think that caring about health, animals, or eating tofu is for sissies?

MPC: Get destroyed by me or Rob Bigwood on the armwrestling table and then tell us we are sissies...or come watch me do 700 pound shrugs in the gym for reps - the real "sissies" are the ones who shoot animals for sport, recreation, or whatever the fuck their coward excuse is. That's right, I am calling out HUNTERS and calling them the real "sissies" of our world. Anyone else throwing around that word is just misinformed about our passions. Sorry about the rant, I have no tolerance for cruelty.

DB: Now that you have changed your lifestyle, have you influenced anyone around you to do the same?

MPC: I have made my family and friends look at what they are eating in a different way, and I encourage them to follow their heart and do what is right for our animals, environment, and humanity in general. I hope in time, they will feel the same compassion as I do.

DB: What is next in your career? I saw the trailer for "Wrestling Demons", how is that going?

MPC: I am working on becoming a motivational speaker. After all of the changes that I have been through over the last two years, I really want to help other people who might be struggling with depression, addiction, or believing in themselves. "Wrestling Demons" is currently under network consideration, and I believe that it is going to happen. I promise to help educate the public about veganism, and all the important issues that we consider to be our credo if it gets picked up by a network.

DB: What s the best thing about becoming a vegan? The worst?

MPC: Well as you can see, I am very passionate about animals - the greatest thing about being a vegan is knowing that EVERY bite of food I put in my mouth has no suffering behind it, nothing sucks about being a vegan, we rule!!

DB: Where can we see you arm wrestle, wrestle, or play in your band?

MPC: Currently my band is on hiatus, but I am working on a New Age record that I hope to release next year. I am taking a break from professional wrestling due to a neck injury, so all my passion and heart is into armwrestling right now, and I am competing again in August at the Europa Supershow in Dallas, TX.

DB: If any of our readers are near Dallas next week, hopefully they'll come by and cheer you on!

Dirty Dozen, Have a Cow & Prime Peacoats

joshuakatcher — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:58:08 +0000

• Timeless Navy coats get ethical. Dress to oppress (I mean impress...). I love Barney's exclusive organic cotton twill peacoat, inspired by Fidelity's classic US Navy coats. Barney's also offers a handsome Fidelity, organic cotton, toggle front peacoat in khaki. While an ethical military may never exist, the utilitarian clothing designed for it is often flawlessly functional. • The Dirty Dozen. The Environmental Working Group, a public health nonprofit, put out a list of the fruits and veggies to absolutely avoid unless they're organic. They analyzed almost 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the USDA and the FDA. The “Dirty Dozen,” which contain 47 to 67 pesticides per serving, are the most dangerous because they have porous or textured skins that suck up more pesticides.

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Domestic blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Sweet bell peppers
8. Spinach, kale and collard greens
9. Cherries
10. Potatoes
11. Imported grapes
12. Lettuce

Clean Fifteen. On the other side of this equation is the fruits and veggies that are not terribly hazardous if you get the conventional, non-organic varieties. These had the least detectable residues of pesticides:

1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Sweet peas
4. Asparagus
5. Cabbage
6. Eggplant
7. Sweet potatoes
8. Avocados
9. Pineapples
10. Mangoes,
11. Kiwi
12. Domestic cantaloupe
13. Watermelon
14. Grapefruit
15. Honeydew

• Have a Cow, Man. Do you have some land? Enough for a cow or two to hang out on? Farm Sanctuary needs a few good men to be new dads to some recently rescued calves. What's better than hanging out with a giant puppy? Click HERE to find out how you can become the most ethical cowboy around.

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."

LIQUID FIX: Ethical Exploits – Volume 7

joshuakatcher — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:54:39 +0000

In this installment of Ethical Exploits, contributor Matt Lara deals with a lot of liquids - from the oceans that float Sea Shepherd to unclogging your drain without dumping deadly chemicals into the water - and from homemade grapefruit juice and ethical bathroom cleaners to soda that funds dog shelters. These every-day tips and tricks are always tested, tried and true by Matt, himself. . . by Matt Lara He Sells Sea Scarves I was able to score a sample one of these awesome scarves designed by a friend of mine. They are handmade and great for mild spring weather. The skull design may look familiar to you, as it's the logo for Sea Shepherd. If you haven’t heard of Sea Shepherd yet, they are one of the ballsiest groups out there. With help from such folks like Bob Barker and Ady Gil, they utilize direct-action in helping maintain natural ocean ecosystems. Much of their work was shown on Animal Planet’s Whale Wars. These scarves really do grab attention and provide the perfect opportunity for everyday advocates to spread awareness on such an incredible group. Check out the goods (coming soon!!!) here. Drain Drama I had a pesky clog in my bathroom sink, and rather than continue to buy expensive and nasty chemical un-cloggers, I decided to do some research on more natural (and cheaper) ways to put my sink at ease. It turns out you don’t need much more than baking soda, vinegar, and water. And you may just need some good, old’ fashioned elbow grease with a plunger. I sprinkled about ¼ cup baking soda into the drain, and then poured in 1 cup of vinegar. The two components fizz and help loosen the grime lodged in there. Remember the fizzing action from that volcano you made in the grade school science fair?

The verdict: I had to repeat this process twice. The sink still seemed to be clogged and draining slowly, so I went at it with the plunger. Lots of gunk came out into the sink, so I cleaned that up then repeated the process one last time. My sink drains beautifully now. Apparently, flushing regularly with boiling hot water helps keep clogs clear as well. So, there’s yet another home solution without crazy chemicals, and far less harm done to aquatic ecosystems. You can check out more detailed instructions here. Method Acting O, Method…how do I love thee? Why is that I get a little giddy when a refill for your foamy hand soap comes in a more earth-friendly pouch rather than yet another plastic bottle? I get ever so joyful from using your daily shower spray to help keep the shower from getting mildew—and to help make the big clean-ups far more manageable. And, I was so electrified to hear that your newest line of laundry detergent comes in a super-concentrated formula that pumps straight into the washer. Yes, you pump—as in, no more pouring to some mysterious fill line on a plastic cup. I know you love me too, from your letter to me (your loyal patron) on your website:

“method was founded on the vision that business could be an agent of positive change and a source of solutions to social and environmental problems. The first step of this vision is the responsibility to ensure that our products truly strive for sustainability - from the safety of the materials they are made from, to the ways that they are made and shipped, to the partners we work with in our supply chain.” From the way I’m acting, you’d think I had just discovered how affordable your products are. Which gives all the more reason to love thee. Let me count the ways… Fresh and Fruity Good, healthy whole foods—who says they have to be fancy? Most of the time, the simplest way is the best way. The theory of Occam's razor should have a supplemental cookbook. Something as easy as a fruit plate is yummy, and provides more than enough vitamins and minerals. In fact, nature designed fruit to be appealing to mammals like us, in hopes we'd carry off the seeds and help spread their genes. Check out these amazing grapefruits from my neighbor’s tree. I was never a grapefruit fan until I juiced these giant beauties and sweetened with a tad of maple syrup. Enjoy reading about the healthy benefits of a simple grapefruit. This Post is Going to the Dogs… Hey New Yorkers, love your doggies? Wanna spoil them? Check out Anything Pawsible at the Ninth Avenue Street Fair this weekend. My good friend Vincent Gerrard (a veteran actor/producer) created this portable pet store. They specialize in one-of-a-kind pet items, along with organic treats and eco-friendly toys. Their goal is 100% green. If you stop by their booth this weekend, any purchase of a toy, shirt, bandana or pet treat helps fund Broadway Barks, the annual pet adoption celeb-event. A few Broadway stars will be manning the Anything Pawsible booth:

• Saturday, 5/15 12pm -1pm: Tony nominee Jan Maxwell now starring in Lend Me a Tenor
• Sunday 5/16 12pm -1pm: Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlin now starring as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Dashaun Young now playing Simba in The Lion King.
• More info on the street fair here.

And if you’re on the west coast…I stumbled upon this sweet little root beer company called Margo’s Bark. It is an all-natural cane sugar soda. I know, again with the carbs Matt, but all those summer barbeques are on the way, and this stuff is great. And what makes it even greater is that 100% of the profits from Margo’s Bark goes to supporting dogs in city shelters. The taste is sweet, happy, and fizzy sans the junk you get in mainstream sodas like phosphoric acid, preservatives, and corn syrup. If you’re going to have that once-in-a-blue-moon soda pop, why not help our furry friends get a forever home? Margo’s Bark is available at these locations.

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.