Melange ASMR

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 Gööck, Die 100 berühmtesten 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 💛 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.    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 💕 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!

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.    If you prefer to watch the video, 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 😅 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.    If you'd like to watch along, have a look at my youtube channel Melange ASMR.

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).

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).

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).

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.  Let's also have a brief look at the borders and geography of the country and some of the minority languages spoken there.    For a visual version, have a look at my youtube channel. (Click here for episode)

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.  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 💕   For a visual version, please have a look at my youtube channel. (Click here for episode).

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 😴😴 Mystery person who sent this to me, who are you? 💛   If you'd like to watch along, 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 💖 Before we start, though, thank you so much for all the well-wishes last week!  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.

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!!! 💜   If you'd like to watch along, please 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 🧡   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 💖💖   For the video version, click here.