Cool site alert

Check out VeganTattoos.com, y’all.

I found my friend Dustin’s awesome “HERBIVORE” tattoo on there, too, even though the bitch didn’t send me a link or anything:

Isn’t that clever? The letters are made of vegetables and fruit.

Also: Two Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthday to two great gay men today, both of whom had an immeasurable impact on my life.

Today would have been the 79th birthday of slain gay rights leader (and my lifelong hero) Harvey Milk:

And a very happy 50th (!) to Morrissey, also a gigantic influence on me and the impetus to my teenage-to-now vegetarianism:

Thanks, fellas.

Insider’s vegan guide to Washington D.C.

My friend Dustin and I wrote this kicky insider guide to secret spots and out-of-the-way cafes to feed your vegan face when you visit the national’s capitol. And do come visit, because it’s boring here without you.

Allen Ginsberg’s words of wisdom

My advice to you is as follows:
one, learn meditation practice;
two, empower yourself with your own emotions -
don’t be afraid of grief, or heartthrob;
three, be willing to expose yourself and be a fool,
to not be intimidated in the presence of presidents
and rock stars, but come on as a gentle, living
flesh and blood human being.

Don’t treat people as icons.

If what you are doing is considered by all your friends
as too far out, think thrice -
so you don’t go outside the bounds of sanity -
check it out.

Get a good education in reading the Eastern and Western classics.
Avoid animal fat.
Be a slave to love.
Wear your heart on your sleeve.
Twenty rejections in a row are wiped out by one acceptance.

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

Today is Earth Day. What are you doing to honor our planet?

I’m a vegan who uses almost exclusively natural products and recycles every damn thing in her apartment. Everything, even, like, cereal boxes or any packaging food comes in at the grocery store. I read the ingredients of everything I buy and try not to buy grocery items with, say, palm oil, in them because to get that oil, we’ve got to chop down trees, the habitat for many other animals including endangered orangutans.

So obviously I give a shit about Earth Day and wish people thought about this kind of thing every day.

What do you do? Today and everyday. What do you now and what are your goals?

I really want to know. It’s not a rhetorical question. Go ahead, brag. Or confess, as the case may be.

Artist paints Mona Lisa with hamburger grease

This is gross, but sometimes art is gross, ladies and gentlemen. Phil Hansen is a talented young man who “paints” using only the grease found on Arby’s hamburgers.

Watch this. Hansen paints the Mona Lisa:

Wow.

As you know, I am totally against the meat industry, so while I applaud Hansen’s talent, I hope maybe his art clues people in to just how unhealthy that shit is.

Incidentally, Leonardo Da Vinci, the fellow who originally painted Mona, was a vegetarian.

Happy Anniversary!

It’s Gina Vivinetto’s Greatest Hits’s eight month anniversary! Woo-hoo! Let’s celebrate with a clip from The Flinstones:

This blog is way more popular than I ever thought it would be thanks to you guys.

We’re going to get our 190,000th hit today. Can you believe it?!

XOXO

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson quote

A great Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson quote courtesy of today’s New York Times profile:

“We’re the only animal who gets to choose what we eat, so we can choose to do what’s humane and also much healthier.”

More bad news about PETA

You know, most intelligent animal rights activists — and I include myself among them — have long had conflicted feelings about PETA. Sometimes it seems the group does more harm than good when it comes to the welfare of animals. Sure, it’s the first group that mainstream folks think of when they hear the words “animal activist” or “vegan” and I hate that.

Because PETA is messed up, y’all. Here are my concerns:

* The group is so focused on glitz and celebrity, they’ll “convert” total Ugg boot-wearing, meat-eating famous people to appear in their anti-fur campaigns. It’s hypocritical and gross and it misses the point entirely. Hey, I love celebrity culture, too, but give me a break. Just because one wannabe starlet didn’t buy a damn Fendi coat, she’s not my role model.

* Also, why the eff does PETA use naked women in their campaigns? This has troubled me for too long. Why use exploitation of one species to combat the exploitation of another? Think about it. Whatever your views on sex and nudity, there are better ways to get a message out about the commodification of animals. Perhaps messages that don’t inherently do the exact same thing?

Nudity is great and nudity is beautiful. But nudity has nothing to do with animal rights. Just the fact that PETA makes us debate this issue is, well, mind-boggling.

* I’d also like to go on the record saying I do no support PETA activists wearing Ku Klux Klan robes at protests. I’m of the mind that there is no good reason, ever, to put on a KKK robe.

* The tacky press releases. I can’t bear to hear another PETA-issued press statement that insults or demeans someone. For example, insulting documentary film maker Michael Moore because he’s fat. What was the point of that? I don’t think that’s an intelligent or inspiring invitation to anyone to explore vegetarianism and/or animal rights.

* But, this is worse: PETA kills animals. How do you justify something like that? How can you claim to be an animal welfare group and kill animals on your own property?

* Also, the bullying lawsuits. PETA has spent millions of dollars in litigation against other animal rights organizations.

You can’t know how sad this makes me. Back in the 1980s, PETA was a different organization, much less glitzy and, I think, much more committed to true progress in the way people think about animals. PETA’s monthly magazines were a godsend to me down in Florida. My friends and I were the only vegetarians we knew.

But now, PETA’s not the same. And it pains me to think that a majority of people associate all vegans and animal rights activists with the bizarre antics of PETA.

PETA does not speak for all of us.

If you’re new to animals rights and vegetarianism, why not check out these groups:

Friends of Animals (the oldest animal rights organization in the United States).

Compassion Over Killing

I think you’ll find their messages straightforward without all the nonsense.

If you’ve got an opinion on all this, leave it.

A quick round-up

Here are stories I found interesting and you might, too:

* Wall Street Journal piece on the chemicals in household cleaners.

* Showtime wisely passes on insulting, asinine L-Word spinoff.

* I feel sorry for this Graffiti Girl who’s facing serious hard time. Am I a sap?

* Kooky Cloris Leachman and Gene Hackman had “epic sex”? Weird.

* She’s gonna play Judy Garland?!

* Artist Justine Lai paints realist portraits of herself having sex with U.S. presidents.

* Wow, talk about old meets new: Modernist architect Frank Gehry has been picked to design an Eisenhower monument in D.C.