All posts tagged: taught

David Hockney Taught Me to Love Color

David Hockney Taught Me to Love Color

Published by Jenni Sidey

In September 2007, about a week into my freshman year of college, I received a magazine in the mail that changed my brain chemistry in that way that’s only possible when you’re not yet 17 and enough of a sensitive knucklehead to consider 500 Days of Summer the height of cinematic achievement. (For the record: I still do.) It was GQ’s 50th anniversary issue, about as beefy as a phone book and built around a landmark list of the 50 most stylish men of the past 50 years. (There were 10 different cover stars; I lucked out and received the best one: Michael Jordan.) I still think about the style advice doled out in that print package all the time—like the decree to buy your leather jackets “a size smaller than you normally would” to mimic the Ramones—but there was one page in particular that I remember stopping me in my tracks. It was the entry for David Hockney, the transformative British painter who died on Thursday at age 88. The photograph they’d chosen of …

David Hockney, my kind, generous friend, taught the world to see beauty

David Hockney, my kind, generous friend, taught the world to see beauty

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter It was 49 years ago that I first interviewed David Hockney. I still have the 1977 handwritten letter he sent me at school inviting me to his studio in Powys Terrace, Notting Hill. I was 16 and starstruck. At the top floor of several flights of stairs was a transformative oasis of light and, waiting at the door, was the peroxide blonde bombshell that was David Hockney. Smoking and beyond charming and funny and irreverent, his Yorkshire accent and charisma were as palpable as his art. His gripe then was not restrictions on smoking but the restrictive opening hours of English pubs and bars compared to 24 hour freedom in America. Ever the radical libertarian. His autobiography had recently come out and he was very much art’s ultimate rock star. His paintings and drawings dazzled as he infectiously explained to me …

Years of emergency prep taught me how to storm-proof my solar generators

Years of emergency prep taught me how to storm-proof my solar generators

Published by skeptic

Maria Diaz/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways  Solar generators can help during weather emergencies. Prepare your setup before an emergency hits. Severe weather events are becoming more common. Solar power stations are becoming all the rage. They’re finding their way into homes all across the country and being put to a multitude of uses, from harvesting solar energy to save money on power bills to creating a resilient power source that can cope with the increasing number of weather emergencies we are now having to endure. Just the other day, I was reading about how a super El Niño could be something we have to contend with this year. Also: How I boosted my portable solar panels’ power by up to 30% – 11 expert-approved tips But power stations can themselves bring risks that might not be immediately obvious to owners, issues that can surface during an emergency, turning a bad situation worse. Here, I’m going to outline some preparatory steps that you should take in order …

The pet I’ll never forget: Mush, the cat who taught me about life, love – and closing the cellar door | Cats

The pet I’ll never forget: Mush, the cat who taught me about life, love – and closing the cellar door | Cats

Published by Sam Flores

In July 2021, after a few beers on a summer evening, my flatmate, Lew, answered an internet ad. By 5pm the next day, we had a kitten. She was a swirl of tortie-and-white fluff, with a small pink snoot, and huge ears that made her look more bat than cat. We called her Mush, pronounced like “smush”. From the moment the result of our drunken decision arrived and hid behind the sofa in our south London flat, we were in love. Like many first-time parents in their 20s, Lew and I were fussy and overprotective. Neither of us had ever been responsible for a living creature before. When I held her tiny body against my chest, I felt anxious. Any little thing sent us running to the vet. A crusty eye. A single flea. Was she too small? Was she eating enough? “She’s in perfect physical condition,” the vet assured us during one of her many checkups. As a pandemic baby, Mush didn’t socialise much during her first year of life. She saw only me, …

6 Things Millennials Were Taught About Work Ethic That Gen-Z Just Doesn’t Get

6 Things Millennials Were Taught About Work Ethic That Gen-Z Just Doesn’t Get

Published by Jenni Sidey

There are quite a few things that Gen-Z just doesn’t seem to get when it comes to work ethic. As a Millennial creator and writer who relies on daily consistency to make a living, I’m always looking for ways to streamline the creative process. Procrastinating isn’t always bad, especially if I need a rest.  Sitting idly often generates excellent insights for me, but we usually need to get on and do things. Some things I’ve found get in the way, and others help make my energy and enthusiasm for work explode: these are work ethic concepts that, as a Millennial have found are harder for younger generations to grasp. Here are things Millennials were taught about work ethic that Gen-Z just doesn’t get: 1. Focus is overrated First things first: you need to let go of the need to be more focused. Forget it. You’re not the Dalai Lama. This just adds pressure and closes you up further. You need to relax. Forcing ourselves to be more productive actually can make us less productive. If …

If Your Parents Never Taught You The True Value Of Money, You Probably Say 11 Phrases On A Regular Basis

If Your Parents Never Taught You The True Value Of Money, You Probably Say 11 Phrases On A Regular Basis

Published by Jenni Sidey

The way people are raised has a major impact on their money mindset. When kids are taught about the importance of delayed gratification or budgeting, they often develop impulse control and financial responsibility. However, children with parents who fail to teach them money essentials, like investing for their future or keeping healthy credit, it dictates how they view money in adulthood. If your parents never taught you the true value of money, you probably say certain phrases on a regular basis, showing a lack of financial literacy. Whereas people who have a solid foundation of financial knowledge tend to discuss money without shame or stigma, those who never learned financial life skills tend to struggle, usually without realizing it. If your parents never taught you the true value of money, you probably say 11 phrases on a regular basis 1. ‘I’ll just put it on my credit card’ Georgijevic via Canva When people say “I’ll just put it on my credit card,” it indicates that they don’t have a full grasp on the way credit …

What 53 first dates taught me about finding love again

What 53 first dates taught me about finding love again

Published by Sam Flores

Three years after my second divorce, with the help of a dating app, I went on 53 first dates in one summer. Fifty-three times, I put on my first-date uniform (nice but not trying too hard), flat-ironed my hair and texted my date itinerary to my friend Karen to make it easier for the FBI to track my whereabouts just in case this was the internet date that finally went wrong. I had a system. The system involved a spreadsheet. I kept track of what I wore and what stories we shared to avoid repeating myself in case there was a second or third date. There were exploratory follow-up dates, but it usually took only one to know. The coffees and lunches and dinners of that season flicker in my mind like a rom-com video montage. There were some average dates, plenty of nice-guy, zero-chemistry dates, but a few stood out. Here are the notables. There was the extremely tall, minor league baseball player I met at BJ’s in Burbank. He said no more than …

The pet I’ll never forget: Tilly, the rabbit who taught us how to raise a family | Pets

The pet I’ll never forget: Tilly, the rabbit who taught us how to raise a family | Pets

Published by Sam Flores

Tilly wasn’t our first choice: my wife and I had fallen for a grey lop-eared charmer in a local shop who was unexpectedly pulled from sale. But we were now determined to acquire a rabbit, so we traipsed from store to store around south-west London, until we saw this tiny ball of brown and white fluff. Suddenly we could imagine no other bunny. Tilly was many things. When our landlord was around, she was at a friend’s. To the kale producers of Britain, she was a lifeline. To us, she was affectionate, but with a strong sense of personal space – you could tell when she wanted to be touched and when she did not. She was also a menace, gnawing on everything from books to cables and sofa legs. To my family, she was “Bad Tilly” after a weekend stay that left my father’s sofa, skirting board and, somehow, floorboards chewed up. But for eight years – through a pandemic and other personal losses – she was always there, scooting about and poking her …

We Took An Ambitious Swing With A Controversial Family Holiday. It Taught Us A Lot

We Took An Ambitious Swing With A Controversial Family Holiday. It Taught Us A Lot

Published by Sam Flores

Over the past few years, both my husband and I have felt increasingly bummed that we don’t have closer (geographically and emotionally) relationships with our families of origin. No family members live in our state, and none of them are as comfortable travelling as we are, so it often falls on us to visit them if we want to spend time together. But we’ve also become burned out packing up the kids and schlepping to see extended family on their home turf. So this year, we decided to do something about it.  We cherry-picked family members from both sides – including multiple total strangers who had never met each other – and dropped a pin on the map, kinda-sorta-not-really in the middle. We booked a couple of campground lodgings. We promised no cost to our families; all they had to do was drive there and get along. It was the biggest multigenerational travel gamble we’d ever taken. But we hoped it would be worth it. Planning an intergenerational trip can mean trying to balance a …

People Born In The 70s & 80s Have 10 Street Smart Traits That Can’t Be Taught In A Classroom

People Born In The 70s & 80s Have 10 Street Smart Traits That Can’t Be Taught In A Classroom

Published by Jenni Sidey

Gen X and many millennials had incredibly unique, somewhat isolating childhoods that caused them to grow up fast. Unlike younger people today who grew up with overbearing parents and a constant stream of new technology, people born in the 70s and 80s had to look out for themselves. Because of this, they developed street smart traits that can’t be taught in the classroom (not that anyone really tried). All that time spent alone may sound sad to Gen Z or Gen Alpha, but it actually gave them multiple life tools that have only helped them thrive. People born in the 70s and 80s have 10 street smart traits that can’t be taught in a classroom 1. They assess risk quickly MAYA LAB | Shutterstock.com Whether it’s building up the self-trust needed to listen to their gut instincts or having the social awareness to assess risk in public, Gen X and millennials learned these street-smart skills early. Especially because they often spent a lot more time than other generations alone as kids, they had to get …