John Bartlett Pop-Up, Upton’s & More Über-Macho Ads

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• John Bartlett has a Cyber Week Sale from 11/28 – 12/02.  Discerning Brute readers save $5 on JB’s hand selected CYBER WEEK collection ( CYBER WEEK will run from 11/28 – 12/02). The collection ( http://www.johnbartlettny.com/category/cyber-week ) includes his favorite clothing and accessories for guys and girls!  All you need to do is enter code BF27 in your shopping carts. If you spend over $200 on the site, you’ll receive a free, limited edition organic cotton Tiny Tim tote. As always, 10% of the profits from each sale go directly to the Tiny TIm Rescue Fund – John’s non-profit organization that is dedicated to raising and distributing funds to rescue groups that pull dogs directly from high-kill shelters.

Also, don’t miss John’s pop-up shop on the upper east side, Saturday December 3rd, to help raise money for one of the hardest working animal rescue groups in the city, Posh Pets. Posh Pets provides safe haven for cats and dogs who are homeless, injured, and typically on the euthanasia list at the city shelter. John loves their work and the Tiny Tim Rescue Fund will have a pop-up shop of great holiday items alongside our good friends at Wagwear! RSVP: klittlefield@elliman.com

• I am loving the creative forces behind Upton‘s Seitan. As their store proclaims, “IF THEY DON’T CARRY UPTON’S YOU BETTER JUST MOVE”.  So it looks like everyone in New York is going to have to move away. Packing a powerful punch of protein (15g per 2 oz serving), each package features a variety of facial hair styles.

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• I don’t know how I missed this one from Milwaukee’s Best Light Commercial, where men who think animals are cute get smashed by a giant beer can while standing next to their stoic friends:

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joshuakatcher, November 28th 2011 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in vegan

The Passing of A Best Friend

After battling an aggressive form of cancer, one of my childhood friends and family members, Evi was put out of her pain last week. She finally refused to eat anything, including her favorite treats (with pain-killers hiding in them), and we feared she was overcome with distress as she struggled to breathe through the tumors that wrapped around her lung and shoulder. Ultimately, we had to make that dreaded decision.  She was 10 years old, full of love, trust and fun. She was the kind of girl who wanted nothing more than to cuddle up in someone’s lap, chase a toy, greet visitors with a assuring “woof“, and get a good ear or belly scratch. She had a charming under-bite, sought comfort during thunderstorms, and enjoyed the warm Florida sun for the last few years. She will be greatly missed!

This is Evie, a few days before she passed.

I know Evi had an amazing life and knew nothing but love up until the end, but there are countless dogs who are not so fortunate and need loving homes. In her honor, please consider adopting or making a donation to other animals in need who sit in shelters. Best Friends works tirelessly to bring the number of animals in shelters down to zero and needs your support. Even if it’s $5, every penny counts, Click below:

Best Friends

8 Comments

joshuakatcher, February 1st 2010 | Tags:
Posted in Uncategorized

Knightly Knit, Cookie Pies & Music You Must

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For Emma, Forever Ago s/t Oracular Spectacular Feed the Animals s/t
The folks at Sound Fix, a music boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – know more about good music than all of the professors at Juilliard, combined. It could be that they are located in the same spot that almost every good band has their practice spaces, or it could be that they just rule. Sound Fix has just released their top 50 albums of the year, and if you want to be in audio-bliss for the next year, you’ll get some of these albums. From Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, and MGMT – to Girl Talk and Herculues and the Love Affair – you may not have heard of them, but once you do, you’ll wonder where they were all your life.
Organic Cotton Knit Bonnet from Earth @ KAIGHT. Photo © Matt Lara

Two caps, one pup. Photo © Matt Lara

I enjoyed two caps the other day, a soy cappuccino from Gimme! Coffee – probably the best espresso ever,  and a naturally dyed cotton knit cap made by the elusive Filipino designer, Eairth from Kaight. Enzo my lil’ rescued pup (thanks to sugarmutts.org) is sporting his “Have a Heart” anti-fur pin. Believe me, it’s much more effective on him. Especially when we’re walking and I offer him up to the fur-clad :  “would you like to anally electrocute him and add a few extra inches to your coat?”

Little Enzo

RECIPE: Cookie Pies!

Easy Cookie Pies!

Easy Cookie Pies! © Discerning Brute 2008

These cookies are perfect for the holidays. Add anything you want to the center! Chocolate, marzipan, jam, pumpkin pie mix, peanut butter, or even leave the sugar out and go for a savory mini pastry with mashed potato, tampenade, or a chunk of marinated seitan in the center!

What you’ll need (makes 2 dozen):
• 2/3 cup non-hydrogenated,vegan margerine or shortening (Earthbalance or Spectrum is great!)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 tblsp  sunflower seed butter
• 1/3 cup organic brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unrefined, organic sugar
• 1 tblsp vanilla extract (you can also use almond or coconut)
• 1/4 cup egg replacer (Energie is great!)
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 cups all purpose organic, unbleached flour

Directions:
1. In a mixer, or with a fork, combine chilled margarine/shortening, coconut oil, sugar, vanilla, egg replacer, and sunflower seed butter.
2. Once it is creamy, add the baking powder and vinegar. It should start fizzing a bit.
3. Slowly mix in the flower until it is like play-dough, dry enough so it doesn’t stick to your fingers too much, but moist enough to roll out. Usually it’s 2.5 cups. For chewier cookies, add more flour. For crispier, add less.
4. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick on a floured pastry sheet or wax paper.
5. Using a circular cookie cutter, and a smaller circle (you can even use a bottle cap for the hole) make a solid base, and doughnut shaped top.
6. Place your base on an ungreased cookie sheet, add your filling, then place the top on!
7. bake on 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden.



5 Comments

TheDiscerningBrute, December 15th 2008 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in activism, animal rights, dogs, fashion, food, green, holiday, music, news, organic, pets, recipes, Uncategorized, vegan, vegetarian

Songbird Self, Hot Rod Heros, and Virtual-Meat

access

1. BIRD IN THE MIRROR: One of the major arguments made to rationalize cruelty toward non-human animals is that they have no sense of self. However, there is a test that researches have used to see if an animal can recognize that a mirror image belongs to its own body. Among those that have passed this test are apes, bottlenose dolphins and elephants. A new study suggests that a magpie (as well as crows and ravens) recognizes itself in the mirror, too. Signs of self-recognition are illustrated above: a bird looking in the mirror attempts to remove a paint spot, using its beak and then its foot. Full story.

2. THE NEW YORK TIMES reported yesterday on a group of tattooed bikers that rescue animals and are vegetarians.

“I’m a vegetarian,” said Mike Tattoo (real name Mike Ostrosky), a former bodybuilding champion with a shaved head, great arms covered in art and a probing clarity in his blue eyes…

Having run in crowds where animal abuse was rampant, often involving pit bull fights, the men volunteered at shelters and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Toward Animals, and they tried to solve cases of missing or abused animals that other organizations had neither the time nor the resources to address…Next month, the bikers will begin a program in the city’s public schools to educate children about being kind to all animals…

3. iMeat

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/labmeat.jpgWelcome to the not-too-distant future, where meat is “grown” without factory farms, slaughterhouses, or the killing of animals. Sound like science fiction? Maybe. But a group of determined scientists believes it could be possible to mass-produce meat using cloned animal cells well within the next decade. They claim this lab-grown “cultured meat” will be healthier and safer to eat than meat sliced from slaughtered animals, and will produce less pollution and require fewer resources than harvesting livestock for human consumption. Full Article

3 Comments

TheDiscerningBrute, August 25th 2008 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in activism, animal rights, dogs, food, news, pets, social responsibility, vegan, vegetarian