Heath Ledger Earns Posthumous Award from PETA

In January of 2007, one year before his passing, actor Heath Ledger and Isaac Brock from the alternative rock band Modest Mouse collaborated on a video for “King Rat”, one of the songs on the Mouse’s recently released EP "No One's First and You're Next". During the time between the video’s conception and Ledger’s death, the idea was largely cultivated, but unfinished. With Brock’s blessing, the video has finally been completed and released.

Ledger had deep sensitivity regarding the cruelty of the whaling trade, and was a member of Australia’s Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s advisory board. Australia has had problems for many years with illegal whaling, particularly with ships coming from Japan. PETA has granted Ledger with the “Compassionate Artist” award for August, 2009 for his work on this video, which provides frank insight into the brutality of this disturbing practice.

The animated “King Rat” video continues Modest Mouse’s recent trend of nautically themed videos. It illustrates a day in the life of a whaler, but with roles reversed: the whaler is, in fact a whale. Soon we find the most dangerous game in the water – humans. The whale whaler happily harpoons men, and then festoons the ship with festive garlands to delight in the day’s successes. It may remind one of a celebratory steak dinner or even Thanksgiving – and raising a glass in a cheerful toast over a table bearing the remains of some defenseless animal.

A sample of the lyrics shows the connection between the song and the issue:

And you know you know you know it all went wrong.
And you know you know you know it was all wrong.

Deep Water, Deep Water
Senseless Denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child
Deep Water, Deep Water
Senseless Denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child

The video is explicit, but delivered more artfully and palatably through animation than, say, real whaling footage. The message is clear, and received without any “in your face” gore that might turn off more delicate viewers. It’s a tad reminiscent of Radiohead’s 1997 Paranoid Android video, as it was another tale of karma and ultimate retribution with a twinge of that ooky feeling.

(Avid fisherman) Brock gets an honorable mention by PETA here, too – though he has previously admitted in great detail how he rather enjoyed a former job cleaning out a meat truck. “King Rat” is arguably one of the strongest tunes of the eight tracks on the EP, combining his Frank Black-esque yelps, a brass section and some inspired tempo changes. Fisherman or no, Brock and the boys’ latest work deserves a listen – as do the rest of their albums.

Profits from downloads of the iTunes video for "King Rat" for the first month after release will go toward the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Watch it: HERE

Michael Jackson's "Ben" may Become Tune for PETA

PETA is seeking the rights from recently deceased Michael Jackson for his 1972 song “Ben”. They wish to utilize the tune for raising awareness regarding animal experimentation on lab rats. The Animal Welfare Act excludes birds, rats, mice, livestock intended for food, cold blooded vertebrates and all invertebrates from protection from cruelty.

Jackson’s song was included on the soundtrack for a movie also entitled “Ben”, a film about a lonesome boy who befriends a rat.

PETA and Jackson have clashed in the past. As recently as March of 2009, PETA protested via post and blog to reports that Jackson planned to replicate a “jungle” theme onstage at the ill-fated O2 arena shows. The rumored guests included elephants, panthers, snakes, tropical birds and monkeys. Jackson later decided against it.

After abandoning Neverland Ranch in 2005, PETA believed Jackson left the remaining animals in undesirable living conditions. Jackson’s ranch was subsequently inspected by federal officials and was cleared from PETA’s cruelty allegations.

In other Jackson news, his former personal chef Kai Chase plans to publish a cookbook of the King of Pop’s favorite dishes. Media reports and the singer himself claimed Jackson was a vegetarian, but Chase’s version of his diet includes tuna and chicken. Jackson’s nutritionist shares another variation of his eating habits, claiming the singer subsisted on a juice and smoothie diet, along with a little bit of trail mix and an occasional treat of fried chicken.

Like many facts regarding Jackson’s lifestyle, the vegetarian issue continues to be cloudy and without significant substantiation.

Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch has Cancer

Vegetarian Adam Yauch, better known as "MCA" of the Beastie Boys announced back in July in a video at www.beastieboys.com that he has a "very treatable" cancerous tumor in his left parotid gland, which is a gland that resides in the throat. It is also in his lymph node, but has not spread to any other area of his body.

Because of this health issue, the Beastie Boys are postponing both their upcoming tour and the release of their next album entitled "Hot Sauce Committee Part I".

According to Yauch, the surgery and subsequent radiation will not affect his voice.

To view the message from Yauch himself with fellow groupmember Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz at his side, visit the Beastie Boys' Official Website.

Quotes about Vegetarianism and Animal Rights

Today I’m going to pass the soapbox to notable vegetarians, and offer you some great quotes regarding vegetarianism.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.

Albert Einstein

I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we
should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our
bodily wants.

Gandhi

Fur used to turn heads, now it turns stomachs.

Rue McClanahan

People get offended by animal rights campaigns. It's ludicrous. It's not as bad as mass animal death in a factory.

Richard Gere

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.

Henry David Thoreau

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food."

the Bible
(A great list of Bible quotes can be found here)

If you have men who will exclude any of god's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

St. Francis of Assisi

How can you say you're trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?

Oprah Winfrey

A mind of the caliber of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows.

A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses.

George Bernard Shaw

I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.

Leonardo da Vinci

The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another, even the lowliest creature; to do so is to renounce our manhood and shoulder a guilt which nothing justifies.

Albert Schweitzer

Michael Jackson was a Vegetarian

Michael Jackson, the enigmatic pop icon known by all, was a vegetarian who appeared to have been in good health.

Promotion company AEG had been searching for insurance companies to cover Jackson on his upcoming tour. After rigorous testing, Jackson was found to be in excellent health. AEG’s Chief Executive Randy Phillips was quoted as saying, “He’s a vegetarian; he’s in great shape.”

In his 1988 book, Moonwalk, Jackson says, “I'm a vegetarian now and I'm so much thinner. I've been on a strict diet for years. I feel better than I ever have, healthier and more energetic.”

Michael Jackson’s father Joe and sister LaToya are believed to be vegetarians as well.

Sadly, Jackson collapsed from cardiac arrest in his home in Los Angeles, California, and was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center today. An autopsy will be performed Friday, June 26th with results expected in the afternoon.

Family lawyer Brian Oxman stated he had expressed grave concerns about Jackson’s “extensive” use of prescription drugs prior to his passing.

The Los Angeles Robbery and Homicide Division are currently investigating his untimely death.

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.

Here are some additional sources stating that Jackson was a "strict vegetarian":

Business Mirror

LA Times