Melange ASMR: Recent Episodes
Melange ASMR
Hi! This is the audio-only version of my youtube content for those who prefer screens off to relax and fall asleep. All episodes are soft spoken ASMR.
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Some soft spoken rambling and exploration of various books and media from the long history of Star Wars...
To watch along, have a look at my youtube channel.
I visited Amsterdam for the first time last autumn and enjoyed it immensely. There are a some touristy spots, sure, but it's so easy to just wander around and enjoy the city and all its wonderful details - especially thanks to all the suggestions and recommendations you left me back then!
Today we can only have a cursory glance at the centre and its history, just enough for you to hopefully drift off. We'll look for where the initial dam was constructed, follow some of the canals, and find some of the highlights of the city.
The book in the video is "A Millenium of Amsterdam. Spatial History of a Marvellous City" by Fred Feddes - an equally marvellous publication! If you like maps and old photos, do have a look at it.
For a version with video, please have a look at my youtube channel.
Though in fairness, are there any cookbooks from the 70s that aren't at least a little strange? This one's a collection of 100 famous recipes from all over the world, mixing both Haute Cusine and rustic meals, and presenting them in a whole new format: through colourful photos.
I've been super fascinated both by the selection and the manner in which the dishes are shown. There really is a kind of wonderful strangeness to it.
Book: Roland Gรถรถck, Die 100 berรผhmtesten Rezepte der Welt.
To watch along, please have a look at my youtube channel.
It's been a while since we've looked through some vinyls... So long, in fact, that I haven't been able to squeeze all my purchases since the last video into this one. Listening to these albums - and specifically taking the time to sit down and really focus on them - has brought me a lot of joy. So let's go through these together, from lighter summer albums to heavier ones.
For a version with visuals, have a look at my youtube channel.
Hallo everyone! It's been a while... Thank you so much for your patience, your support and donations and kind comments ๐ We're starting off the new year with a winterly theme: the Arctic Ocean. This National Geographic map was sent in by Fred (thank you!!) and I was particularly fascinated by the map of the ocean floor - which I don't think I'd seen before.
German version is coming next week.
If you'd like to watch along, you can find the video here on my youtube channel.
Welcome back, everyone! We're starting off into autumn with another medieval mystery: the Voynich manuscript. It's a codex, presumably from the early 15th century, written in a script that no one has been able to decode convincingly. The images of fauna, stars and people are just as mysterious as the text...
If you prefer to watch the video, have a look at my youtube channel.
One last time before my summer break, let's explore a historical topic together. This time we're looking at Ancient Egypt - and it's a very superficial overview, really, considering there's millenia to cover along the Nile valley.ย
If you prefer to watch the video, have a look at my youtube channel.
This tarot deck was a very kind gift from NaturalExplorer, and one that I've enjoyed a lot more than expected. I'm all new to tarot, so I've mostly been trying to learn about the different cards without getting into the spreads yet. We could come back to that another time, if you'd like :) Today we're mostly looking at the Major Arcana and an overview of the four suits.ย
If you prefer to watch the video, have a look at my youtube channel!
There have been a couple of requests for Scotland, and maps keep turning up in my postbox. So, let's have a look at this beautiful place up North, from the Shetland and Orkney Islands, to the Hebrides, to the Central Belt with the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh... Sleep well ๐
Thank you, Jak and Giacomo, for your gifts!! And I believe there was a third person who sent in a map of Scotland, but unfortunately I seem to have misplaced the envelope. If you see this, please leave a comment!
If you prefer to watch along, have a look at my youtube channel!
Finally! It's time for Lord of the Rings and an exploration of Tolkien's beautiful map of Middle Earth. Initially I thought this would be an easy video to prepare - just rewatch some beautiful fantasy movies, right? - but instead this turned into the biggest mess of open wiki tabs I've had so far ๐ The amount of info and detail and history for this world is just staggering, and I feel like I've barely managed a little glimpse of it all.ย
If you'd like to watch along, have a look at my youtube channel Melange ASMR.
Today's maps are gifts from the postbox, sent in by Fred and Colette. I love that they fit thematically! The beautiful maps of Hawai'i with the volcanoes from Colette, and the wonderfully detailed info on human settlement in the Pacific from Fred.ย
I hope you enjoy this quiet exploration. And as I've mentioned on the community tab, a little head-ups: We might have to skip one week because June is unexpectedly busy, but after that we'll finally get to Lord of the Rings! Thank you, everyone, for your patience and all the kind words on the videos ๐
For a visual version, please have a look at my youtube channel. (Click here for episode).
This one was a bit of a challenge for me. Chinese is a fascinating case where a couple of varities use one common writing system and are grouped together under one term, even though they are so different from one another that they could well be classified as distinct languages.ย
Let's also have a brief look at the borders and geography of the country and some of the minority languages spoken there.ย
For a visual version, have a look at my youtube channel. (Click here for episode)
Hello! I figured I'd show you some Austrian specialties today. The first one is Uhudler, a type of wine that tastes of wild strawberries and can only be produced in a small region in the very East of Austria. The second one is Styrian pumpkin seed oil, a favourite of some of my friends who moved here from abroad. And the third one you'll find at pretty much every breakfast table, a little breadroll called Kaisersemmel.
For a visual version, have a look at my youtube channel (link to episode).
Are you in the mood for some mythology? Let's look at an ancient creation myth from one of the cradles of civilisation, Mesopotamia. The Babylonian story tells about Marduk, the greatest god in the pantheon, and how he created the world by slaying Tiamat, a sea-monster and mother of all other gods. The tablets with the text were found during excavations in the 18th century, but some parts of the story lived on since ancient times, through a retelling in the Genesis.
For a visual version, have a look at my youtube channel (click here for episode).
It looks like Prague and Czechia have been popular destinations with Austrians for a while, considering how many old tour guides and maps I've been able to find in thrift stores and book boxes. It's neat to see how these books have been changing and what kind of info they presented as various points in time. So let's start with a newer book and then go back to Czechoslovakia in the 90s, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and then all the way back to the 50s...
For a visual version, have a look at my youtube channel (link to episode).
Katie has sent me an absolute treasure trove of maps! We're starting with some vintage ones of New Hampshire, her beautiful home state and from the looks of it a fantastic place to go hiking. I particularly like the look of those lakes in the middle of the mountains... Thank you, Katie!!! ๐
If you'd like to watch along, please click here for the youtube video.
It's time to finally look at some languages again and I have to say, this region has been the most challenging to prepare so far. There is such a wealth of languages in the Cacausus mountains, with some that we've talked about before, and some isolate and native to this region alone. Get comfy and let's slowly work our way through the map ๐ Before we start, though, thank you so much for all the well-wishes last week!ย
Content note: There's mention of the Armenian and the Circassian genocide.
Cat appears from 14:33 to 22:45.
If you'd like to watch along, please click here for the youtube video.
I was super sleepy when we filmed this which honestly might be a little noticeable. So get cozy and let's drift off together to this map of the Yosemite National Park ๐ด๐ด
Mystery person who sent this to me, who are you? ๐
If you'd like to watch along, click here for the youtube video.
Today we're looking at a place that is so incredibly big, I'm still struggling wrapping my head around it. The Great Lakes along the Canada-US-border! Turns out, Lake Superior alone is as big as my (arguably small) home country... Wow!
A big thank you to Claire for sharing the infos on the Great Lakes with me, and to Isi of course, who sent me a beautiful surprise package with the map of Canada ๐งก
If you prefer to watch this episode, click here for my youtube channel.
Today we're looking at a bit of a mysterious aspect of ancient history: the Scythians. I've come across the name quite often, but always in the margins or as a side-note and it made me curious to find out more about this civilization of Eastern Europe during the Hellenistic period. I hope you find this relaxing and interesting, and if at some point, you're wondering whether you should drift off to sleep rather than keep listening: absolutely, go to sleep ๐๐
For the video version, click here.
Ever wondered why both London and Paris have a "Temple" station? Let's go back all the way to the Middle Ages and the time of the crusades to get to the origin of that. I find the story of the Templars so fascinating and just love the fact that you can still find their traces in today's cityscapes, hundreds of years later.
For the visual version, please click here.
How do I teleport myself across the world to Brisbane? What a stunning city! A big thank you goes to John who kindly sent this collection of maps and info material, plus an entire letter with details and background info. It was such a joy to record this video and maybe, if you too are struggling with a cold, dull day and a lack of sun, this can bring a little summer of summer to you.ย
For the video, please click here.
My postbox was full of Christmas surprises last time I checked! This one is a set of maps that Adam, a subscriber from the US, sent of Tennessee and parts of Appalachia. A big thank you! It was a pleasure looking at this part of the world and I hope you all enjoy this relaxing trip to the Great Smoky Mountains with me.ย
If you prefer visuals, please have a look at the corresponding youtube video here.
It's time to finally look at some Native American languages! We're starting out with Mesoamerica, home to the ancient empires of Olmecs, Mayas and Aztecs. The fascinating part is that is their respective languages were not related, and yet they do share certain similiarties. Over thousands of years, speakers of the various languages home in Mesoamerica started borrowing and adopting from one another, until they formed what is today known as the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area or Sprachbund. And on top of that, it is also one of the rare places in the world where a fully developed writing system was created, so plenty of fascinating aspects to learn about here!ย
I really enjoyed preparing this episode and hope you will find it just as interesting. But if instead, you happen to fall asleep after 5 minutes, don't worry. That's perfectly alright. Sleep well!
If you prefer the video version, click here.ย
Are you in the mood for a little medieval history? For Christmas, I got a CD with poems from the age of Charlemagne and one of them really stuck with me. It's the description of a battle between Charlemagne's heirs, one that would influence the shape of Western European states until today.
Have a listen to the wonderful rendition of the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnZf4sNqu1w&list=OLAK5uy_mnyDvaIXAsQbnMHKw5hVFZONfZVf3VKlc
I know, 10 days into the new year, many people have already dropped and forgotten their new year's resolutions. But in my opinion, now is as good a time as any to make them! In fact, maybe even a better time than around the holidays because we might have a more realistic (not to say, sober) idea of our options and ressources at hand. So today, join me in planning the first month of the year. Since filming this video at the weekend, I've been super motivated and have not only had my first conversation lesson in French, but have booked five more! The only thing I'm still behind on is yoga, but then again, who says that 30 lessons have to be completed in 30 days. If the challenge continues into February, that's okay too. Do you have any plans for the new year?
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It's been a while since our first brief look at Meyers Konversationslexikon, a gorgeous German language lexicon, in the edition from 1878. There are so many beautiful maps and illustrations to explore, so let's take our time today. Plus, we have help from Mishka again! ๐บ
If you prefer visuals, please have a look at my youtube channel ๐งก
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Today we're looking at an Eastern branch of the Indo-European languages: the Iranian family. Persian has been mentioned a couple of times in other contexts, as it has had a huge influence on Turkish and Arabic, for example, so it's about time we dedicated an entire video to it. We'll start with some history, have a look at different alphabets and then at the areas where the most common Iranian languages are spoken today.
For a visual version, have a look at my youtube channel!
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A little history of the Spanish Habsburgs with some cat purring in the background, perfect to help you relax and fall asleep. If you prefer the vieo format, have a look at my youtube channel.
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Today we're looking at a map of something truly grand: the Grand Canyon! A wonderful subscriber, Rachel, was kind enough of send me two maps and a gorgeous card to share a little bit of her recent trip there. ๐ I hope you'll all enjoy this soft exploration as much I did!
Visual version is available on my Youtube channel under Melange ASMR.
Hello! Today I'll be rambling about the Spanish language and its history to help you fall asleep. ๐ Like last time, a quick disclaimer: I don't speak Spanish, I haven't studied Spanish, and most of the info is taken from various parts of Wikipedia. If you notice any mistakes throughout or know an interesting piece of information you'd like to add, do leave a comment! I appreciate them very much :)
For added visuals, visit my Youtube channel Melange ASMR.
One more map from my trip to London in early summer! This one is a Stanfords map from 1904 of the Transsiberian Railway which was still unfinished at the time. We're mixing it with some newer maps that also show routes running further north like the BAM, the Baikal-Amur-Mainline. I was a little sleepy myself when we filmed this, and I hope that means it's extra effective and you're all falling asleep within the first 10 min. ๐
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Thanks to NaturalExplorer, we're having a look at two gorgeous maps of South Africa today; one for the entire country and one specifically for Cape Town. As always, I hope they'll help you relax and fall asleep!
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Soft spoken exploration of the Semitic language family to help you fall asleep - for a full version with visuals, have a look at my Youtube channel!
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Beautiful mountains, sunny beaches, thermal springs and history dating back millenia: Bulgaria is a pretty fascinating country and a popular tourist destination in both summer and winter. Today we're focusing on geography with some historic details thrown in and I hope you'll soon drift off and find relaxing sleep. ๐ Info on the P.O. Box is available on my youtube channel Melange ASMR.
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We continue our language exploration with the Finno-Ugric family, a relatively small but diverse group of languages spoken in Northern Europe, Russia and of course Hungary. There are some surprising similarities to the Turkic languages, such as agglutinaton and vowel harmony, but even within the family, exact classifications are difficult to establish. So if you like linguistic puzzles, this one's definitely for you!
https://youtu.be/8EaCo3elh0U
Today we're looking at a map of the New York subway and frankly, it held a couple of surprises for me. As it is one of the busiest underground systems in the world, there are some particularities both to how it works and how the map is designed. I thought it was really interesting and I hope you'll enjoy it too! Sleep well ๐ค
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Let's start off in the same place as last time: with the Celts in Central Europe! One of their small settlements along a "Vedunia", a forest river, would later turn into a Roman camp, "Vindobona", and eventually a thriving medieval city, "Wenia"... I hope you'll enjoy this little tour through my hometown's history. There are so many things I didn't know about, so this was really fun and interesting to make.
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Hello hello! Today we're exploring the history of Veliky Novgorod, once one of the most important trading spots in Europe. Its position near the rivers that connect the Baltic in the North with the Black and Caspian Sea in the South allowed it to prosper during the Middle Ages. Under the Varengian ruler Rurik, it played an important role in the foundation of the Kievan Rus, and later it hosted the Eastern kontor of the Hanseatic League.
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Today we're looking at the Turkic languages, a family found in large parts of Asia. It has some really interesting grammatical features like agglutination and vowel harmony, and we'll also briefly discuss whether it might be part of a larger family called Altaic languages.
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Hey everyone ๐ Today we're exploring the inner world of the Viking age. Rather than following shipping routes along rivers and coastlines, we're having a look at belief systems and mythology and how that is represented in art, at the colours and functionality of clothes (and some fashionable hair cuts of course) and the outline of villages in Norway and Denmark. The two books I'm using in this video are not in available in English but I recommend having a look at the links below; especially the National Museum of Denmark provides a wealth of info!
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Today, let's take a trip to the far north and have a look at the vast and spreading routes of the Vikings. Of course they're mostly known for raiding the Frankish lands and the British isles, but they also entertained extensive trade networks in the East with Slavic groups and the Byzantine empire. Plus they explored the Northern seas, making it all the way to the American coast where they even built settlements for a while.
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Today we're staying in London, but going back further in time to the age of Elizabeth I. This is a beautiful map of the City of London and the City of Westminster from 1573. It was created for the Hanseatic League which at the time dominated the trade routes in the North and Baltic sea. There are some sticky sounds in this one - if that's something you dislike, maybe skip it!
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Preparing this topic was a lot! There is so much history and complexity, you could probably fill an entire channel with nothing but explorations of the London underground, so we're really just scratching the surface here.
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Let's continue our language history series with the slavic languages! At home mainly in Eastern Europe, these are closely related, often mutually intelligible languages that started to separate about 1000 years ago. We'll of course also have a look at the different Cyrillic alphabets and at some of the smaller languages where it's not always clear whether they will be classified as a dialect or a separate language in the future.
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Today, we're staying in the North for a little history trip. Following the Viking Age, a loose association of German merchants came to dominate trade in the North and Baltic Sea: the Hanseatic League.
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Today we're having a look at the French language and it's fascinating origin. Did you know that the Gauls only picked up Latin after West Rome had already ceased to exist? And while nowadays French might have lost its prevalent position to English, it is still used all across the globe with its number of speakers actually increasing. Don't worry, there's no grammar or spelling today - just sit back, relax and get ready for sleep ๐
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Hello! It's finally time to explore some Ottoman history. Specifically, let's look at the border between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empire, from the Aegaen to the Black sea, how it shifted over time and how the Habsburg strategy of fortification has shaped its population until today.
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Hello everyone, I'm so happy to finally share a new video with you! I had planned to talk mainly about Global Englishes, but apparently I can't help myself, so let's start at the beginning with the history of the English language. I hope you enjoy it! ๐ฅฐ
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Small man, much chaos! Let's have a look at the changes Napoleon brought to the European continent and specifically at the developments he triggered in the former Holy Roman Empire.
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Today we're going back to the Middle Ages to follow Marco Polo on his journey to Kublai Khan's summer residence in China. I'll give you a little background on Marco Polo's family as well as the circumstances under which the book was written, and then we're tracing the exact route through Persia, along the Silk Road.
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Today's, let's figure out how a tiny Austrian town in the mountains is connected to the "Celtic fringe" on the Western shores of Europe. We'll follow Celtic settlements from the Bronze Age into the Middle Ages and then jump ahead to take a closer look at the 6 Celtic languages still alive - or revived - today.
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Today we're following the astronomer Pytheas, who in about 300 BCE went on a journey of discovery to the far north, following the tin route. His book "On the Ocean" unfortunately got lost, but we know from other accounts that he made his way to Britain and from there, Barbarians showed him "where the sun goes to rest": another six day journey across the sea and there was the island he called Thule. It has been assumed for a long time that Thule must be Iceland, though in recent times, other theories have emerged, suggesting Smรธla in Norway and Saaremaa in Estonia.
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There's this little oddity in the Vienna metro system: there are five lines yet the numbering system counts up to six. What gives? The answer is about a century's worth of plans over plans, none of which have been fully realised. So let's take a look at both the history of the Vienna subway and it's future, because a lot of changes are on the way - and the missing line won't be missing for much longer.
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German has a reputation of sounding harsh and militaristic. But did you know that there are many different versions of this language, sometimes so different in vocabulary and pronunciation, that even native speakers can't understand each other? Let's have a closer look today at the 3 main centres of German - Germany, Austria and Switzerland - and how they overlap with the 3 big dialect families. As always, this video is soft spoken and features plenty of map tracing. I hope you'll find it both interesting and relaxing!
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Just before the museums in Vienna were about to open again in 2021, we had a look through some of promotional leaflets. Here, I'll tell you a little about current and special exhibitions and then mark each location on the map with a little sticker. Triggers include sorting, tracing and pointing on leaflets and map, paper sounds, some quiet reading and generally a soft spoken accent.
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Let's have a look at some linguistic facts today: What are the 8 biggest language families in the world? This list is based on number of speakers (not number of related languages in a family) and includes Indoeuropean, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan, Japanese, Austronesian, Dravidian, Afro-Asian and Niger-Congo.
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