“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
It’s National Chocolate Pudding Day! Did you know that dessert puddings can be traced all the way back to the 17th century? During that time, a “pudding” was actually a very moist cake (similar to a modern-day bread pudding or plum pudding). National Chocolate Pudding Day is a fun day to celebrate for young and old alike. You can make chocolate pudding from a mix or from scratch. Serve your pudding with colored sprinkles or animal shaped cookies for dipping. However you choose to serve your chocolate pudding, do it with flair today. You’ll get a different type of chocolate pudding depending on where you ask for it. In the UK and some Commonwealth countries, chocolate pudding is steamed and thickened with eggs. This gives it more of a cake-like texture. In the US, Canada and parts of Asia, the custard is thickened with a starch and then boiled, resulting in a more creamy texture. Although the Jell-O brand started making some fruity flavors of pudding back in 1897, chocolate wasn’t introduced until 1936. At first it was called Walter Baker’s Dessert, but in 1936, the name was changed to Jell-O Chocolate Pudding.
Today is Beautician’s Day, your chance to show your appreciation to those who make you look beautiful and stunning. Anybody who has anything to do with your appearance should be recognized on this day, your hairstylist, barber, and manicurist. Their talents and training transforms the everyday you into the beautiful person you always knew was inside of you. They make you glow, and feel great about yourself. The guys appreciate the Beautician, too. It’s fair and fitting that you show your appreciation to your Beautician today. But, we also found some reference to suggest that Beauticians consider this a day for them to show their appreciation to their patrons. Now, that’s a novel and admirable concept.
The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is a United Nations International Day against drug abuse and the illegal drug trade. It’s been held annually since 1988 on June 26, a date chosen to commemorate Lin Zexu’s dismantling of the opium trade in Humen, Guangdong, just before the First Opium War in China. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society. This day is supported by individuals, communities and various organizations all over the world. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has, over the years, been actively involved in launching campaigns to mobilize support for drug control. The UNODC often teams up with other organizations and encourages people in society to actively take part in these campaigns.
The United Nations’ (UN) International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is annually observed on June 26 to remind people that human torture is not only unacceptable – it is also a crime. This event gives everyone a chance to unite and voice their opinions against human torture. Organizations, including the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and Amnesty International, have played an active role in organizing events around the world to promote the day. Activities may include: photo exhibitions; the distribution of posters and other material to boost people’s awareness of issues related to human torture; and television advertisements. On June 26, 1987, the Convention against Torture came into force. It was an important step in the process of globalizing human rights and acknowledging that torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment should be universally illegal. In 1997 the United Nations General Assembly decided to mark this historic date and designated June 26 each year as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The first International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was held on June 26, 1998. That same year marked the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. Nearly 100 organisation in dozens of countries all over the world mark the day each year with events, celebrations and campaigns.
The Christian holiday of Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on this day in 1870.
The United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco on June 26, 1945.
Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery was published in The New Yorker magazine on this day in 1948.
On June 26, 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The U.S. Surpreme Court ruled ten years ago today in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
Some of the writers born June 26th include:
Cho Shik (1501), Wolfgang Menzel (1798), Branwell Brontë (1817), Thomas W. Knox (1835), Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838), Sam Watkins (1839), Bernard Berenson (1865), Martin Andersen Nexø (1869), Ya’akov Cohen (1881), Pearl S. Buck (1892), Aimé Césaire (1913), Laurie Lee (1914), Charlotte Zolotow (1915), Virginia Satir (1916), Richard Neustadt (1919), Walter Farley (1922), Robert Kroetsch (1927), Colin Wilson (1931), Jeremy Wolfenden (1934), Dwight York (1935), Edith Pearlman (1936), Nancy Willard (1936), Yves Beauchemin (1941), Warren Farrell (1943), Preston A. Whitmore II (1962), Dany Boon (1966), Paul Thomas Anderson (1970), and Aubrey Plaza (1984).
It was one year ago today that the world lost the American journalist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, and blogger, Nora Ephron. Ephron is best known for her romantic comedies and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay): for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally…, and Sleepless in Seattle. She won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally….She sometimes wrote with her sister Delia Ephron. Her last film was Julie & Julia. She also co-authored the Drama Desk Award-winning theatrical production Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Her sisters Delia and Amy are also screenwriters. Her sister Hallie Ephron is a journalist, book reviewer, and novelist who writes crime fiction. She was married three times. Her first marriage, to writer Dan Greenburg, ended in divorce after nine years. In 1976, she married journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. Ephron was married for more than 20 years to screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi until her death. Although Jewish by birth, Ephron was not religious. Her son Jacob Bernstein is to direct an HBO movie on her life called Everything Is Copy. For many years, Ephron was among only a handful of people in the world who knew the true identity of Deep Throat, the source for news articles written by her ex-husband Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal. Ephron said she guessed the identity of Deep Throat after reading Bernstein’s notes, which referred to the unnamed person as “MF.” Bernstein claimed “MF” was short for “My Friend”, but Ephron guessed correctly that the initials stood for Mark Felt, the late former Associate Director of the FBI, whom some suspected to be Bernstein and Woodward’s source. Ephron’s marriage with Bernstein ended acrimoniously, and after the breakup Ephron was open about the identity of Deep Throat. On June 26, 2012 Ephron died from pneumonia, a complication resulting from acute myeloid leukemia, a condition with which she was diagnosed in 2006. In her final book, I Remember Nothing (2010), Ephron left clues that something was wrong with her or that she was ill, particularly in a list at the end of the book citing “things I won’t miss/things I’ll miss.” There was widespread and somewhat shocked reaction to her death (as she had kept her illness secret from most people), with celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Matthew Broderick, Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, Albert Brooks, and Ron Howard commenting on her brilliance, warmth, generosity, and wit.
Today we have a special price for you on the book The World of Faery: An Inspirational Collection of Art for Faery Lovers that was compiled by David Riche and has a forward by Alan Lee. This hardcover book is a new book but has shelf wear to the dust jacket from being handled in store. Amazon gives the following description:
Following the huge success of The Art of Faery (2003), the collaborators have once again come together to create another astonishing collection. These are the most imaginative and beautiful images produced by the best fairy artists working today, all superbly reproduced for fans and connoisseurs. New contributors have joined some of those showcased in the last anthology, and their pieces use every form of media in a rich and magical mix: watercolor, pen and ink, oil, and pastel. Among those represented: Amy Brown, Linda Ravenscroft, Myrea Pettit, and Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. From Josephine Wall’s gentle Caught by a Sunbeam, with its sweetly sleeping fairy, to Marc Potts’ slightly sinister The Changeling, each one depicts a world of fantasy.
Disclaimer:
Much of the information in this blog is taken directly from Wikipedia, Amazon, and other sources such as holidayinsights.com, which are directly linked to within the text. Images have been taken from various sources found via Facebook, Goodsearch.com and Google.
Village Book Shop and the blogger claim no credit for the information above.
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