It’s Links time! Or on a personal level, I like to think of it as “Allergy Watch.” If you’re curious, mine are still here and still going strong. If you, too, suffer from allergies, I wish you the softest of tissues. Here are a few things the SBTB team has read and enjoyed this week. We know it’s been a bit of a tough one.
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Have you see Ocean’s Eight yet? Sarah and Redheadedgirl have, if you missed their joint review. If you’re looking for more heist stories with women at the center, author Suleikha Snyder has a few reading recommendations at Frolic.Media. Have you read any on the list?
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I have a huge love for Bob Ross. My grandmother was a painter and would always watch his shows. Twitch.tv frequently streams old episodes of his Joy of Painting show; it’s very calming. If you also find Ross to be soothing, good news! A sleep and meditation app is making use of Ross’ even, gentle temperament.
Craig Richard, a professor of physiology at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., and author of the coming book “Brain Tingles,” used to watch “The Joy of Painting” after school when he was a boy. “I’d get on a floor pillow and fall asleep halfway through,” he said.
As a professor, he has explored Mr. Ross’s videos in relation to autonomous sensory meridian response, more commonly referred to as A.S.M.R., a state of deep calm brought on by the sound of clothes rustling, a pencil scribbling or, in Mr. Ross’s case, a brush on canvas. “You don’t need the visual,” he said. “Just his voice and sounds could trigger a relaxing state.”
Are you a fellow Bob Ross fan?
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Judith McNaught has a new book out! It’s her first book in twelve years and Entertainment Weekly has the cover reveal, as well as an interview with McNaught. What do you think? The cover reminds me a lot of spring.
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Do you follow Blair Braverman on Twitter? You should! She’s a dogsled racer and frequently posts photos of her adorable sled dogs. Each one has their own distinctive personality, and she’s designed a flowchart for determining which dog is your “soul pup.” If you’re curious, I’m an Anya.
Testing a new system for assigning soulpups. Tag yourself pls pic.twitter.com/SPEikhSZ8J
— Blair Braverman (@BlairBraverman) October 2, 2017
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Loved Bob Ross growing up. Fond memories of falling asleep on the couch on Saturday afternoons.
Also I loved watching it with my dad. Bob was always slapping on huge smear of paint with a big brush and Dad would be like “Okay, how is Bob going to turn this into a beautiful mountain?” Bob always pulled it together and my dad was always amazed 😉
May all your mistakes turn into happy trees this week.
I’ve been confused by everyone’s memories of Bob Ross for a while now. I do remember watching a PBS painting show where the presenter talked about “happy little trees”, but in my head, I kept hearing a German accent. It didn’t fit what everyone else was talking about.
Google to the rescue!
Turns out Bill Alexander, a German/Prussian painter who taught Bob Ross the wet-on-wet technique, also had a painting program on PBS. Apparently Bob picked up the “happy little trees” bit from Bill.
I’m not crazy after all–just old! Lol!
I used to fall asleep to Bob Ross all the time. My kid with anxiety too.
I live near Winchester. I’ll have to check for a book signing.
I think a lot of the Bitchery would like the most recent episode of To The Best of Our Knowledge – “Women Who Rule.” There are interviews with experts on women who ruled in Ancient Egypt and in mythology including an interview with the author of the recently released Circe.
https://www.ttbook.org/show/women-who-rule
Recently I was working in a new location and mentioned that I was having trouble speaking and my coworker told me about a friend of his who was experiencing sleep issues and some anxiety was told by a doctor to listen /watch to a Bob Ross video online before going to bed and it could help you relax. It worked for him – so I tried it and it worked. However – the danger is suddenly you have a urge it start buying paint stuff to play with as a hobby to find your inner artist 🙂
The Judith McNaught interview has me worried. Because I devoured a bunch of her books back when I first started reading romance (which was totally the Bitchery’s responsability). Once and Always, Perfect, Double Standards, A Kingdom of Dreams and Something Wonderful. And, after the first rush of reading…
The heroes are Alpholes and the women have just enough agency to get into trouble so the hero can rescue them. And then she states in the interview that there is no change in her writing at all, because people yearn for “the sweetness and thrill and excitement of finding true love.”
How about your rapist heroes? Was that sweet and thrilling and exciting?
Oooh I actually have a subscription to the Calm meditation app! I haven’t listened to the Bob Ross sleep story yet, but maybe next time I can’t sleep I will try it out. The sleep story I listen to most often is the one of Stephen Fry describing the lavender fields of Provence. It’s wonderfully relaxing.
I have zero artistic talent and had never heard of Bob Ross prior to last year, but my hubs and his sister grew up watching him so as a gag gift, she bought him a life sized Bob Ross cardboard cutout and had it delivered to us. Well, to make a long story short, we ended up punching out holes in it, draping it with Christmas lights, and making it a Christmas tree. It made us smile every time we walked into the living room during the holiday season.
@JenM–any chance you’d be willing to share a pic of the Bob Ross Christmas tree with us? Pretty please?!
@Cristie, I totally would except that i don’t have a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account so I have no idea how to post it so you could see it. Scratches head, tries to figure out if there’s some way we could exchange emails or phone numbers….
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Filker Tom Smith has a song about Bob Ross in the zombie apocalypse, here: