Some people shiver with delight at whispers and certain kinds of soft sounds. A psychologist/neuroscientist at Manchester University named Nick Davis tells Wired about the science behind these "brain orgasms."
Image: Wired/YouTube Read the rest
The only noises to be heard are footsteps and video editing suites firing up. The nice ceremonies come later.
“I got to work early today just to record this,” says IMGURian ZeusWaffle. Read the rest
Need to relax for a couple of minutes? Don those headphones and head over to Sand Tagious for some very satisfying slicing and smooshing of kinetic sand. Read the rest
In the five years since I first wrote about "Autonomous sensory meridian response" (ASMR) a folk-neurological condition that describes the pleasant shivers some people experience when hearing certain soft noises, ASMR has gone mainstream -- my ten year old daughter describes the texture of the slime she makes as "really ASMR." Read the rest
Carving soap bars into tiny cubes is apparently so satisfying visually and aurally that there's a whole series of videos depicting its many pleasures. Read the rest
My fourth-favorite ASMR fad is dogs eating popcorn. Lots of treats for pups lately! Sadly, the wave has already crested and the garbage YouTuberati is burying the good stuff with rented animals and 7 minutes of titles, music, jibber-jabber and other monetization padding. A good rule is to only click on videos uploaded by actual dogs. Read the rest
Erika Rejka creates intertwined metal shapes into sculptures that can be manipulated by the viewer. Read the rest
My only objection to Oscillating Fan Youtube is that the subculture fails to provide the model, make and specifications of their fans. Above is 10 hours of a Lakewood. Next up, an hour of a Lasko-brand box fan ("Finally!!!! I found one that sounds right!!!!! Thank you soooooo much!!!!," comments Cateia Jones.)
Here's a roaring, full-spectrum fan sound that I suspect has had a lot of processing done to it (or is entirely synthetic) despite being presented as a "classic fan sound." Read the rest
The apotheosis of ASMR. [via Reddit] Read the rest
The sound reminds me of a David Cronenberg film.
And here's how to make your own gold slime:
The soothing crunch, the rhythmic chewing... is there anything better than the tingly sound of panda mastication? Watch this cutie make quick work of a large bamboo shoot.
Here's another one, but not that doors slam now and then, which might scare the heck out of you.
These guys are more my style.
• Adorable Giant Panda Eating Bamboo Shoots (true ASMR video) (YouTube / Panpy Pie) Read the rest
I get a huge kick out of the videos of the always-entertaining nerd whisperer Jenny Nicholson. If you haven't seen her channel, check it out and watch as she sits on her bed, surrounded by sci-fi plushies, and shares her quirky, sometimes labyrinthine, and often convincing theories and opinions on sci-fi and fantasy films, comic books, novels, and other nerd media fodder.
In her latest video, she answers many requests she's apparently had for doing ASMR videos by explaining ten reasons why her answer is no. But she delivers her ten reason AS an ASMR video, right down to tapping, scratching, and scrunching things as she talks. One of her ten reasons made me laugh out loud:
"I just don't know how I'm supposed to take myself seriously when I'm crinkling bags for an hour."
For those unfamiliar, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, is an intense tingling sensation some people claim they experience when they hear certain soft voices, pleasant repetitive sounds, or while watching someone doing a particularly mundane, repetitive activity.
I'm sure Jenny is going to get a lot of grief from ASMRtists for seemingly making fun of them, but I would hope they'd have a healthy sense of humor about it all. Several commenters who claim to experience ASMR said that they laughed at her reasons for not doing it. I do not have ASMR, but I do enjoy listening to some ASMR audio as I'm going to sleep and I'm fascinated by the whole phenomenon and the numerous, surreal, and just plain bizarre videos people are producing in the genre. Read the rest
A short film written and animated by Kirsten Lepore, starring Garrett Davis. It's part of the Strangers anthology from Late Night Work Club...
... a loose, rotating collective of indie animators. That is, animators who do independent, non-commercial work. It’s an excuse to bring a whole bunch of us together and make something great, and also to promote the work of the artists involved. Some of the best, most personal, experimental and vital animation going right now is happening on the internet. It’s being made late at night when other people have gone to sleep and on weekends when everyone else is out. It’s being made by students, freelancers, full-timers and folks with unrelated day jobs. It means something to us. It’s our scene.
It's hard to describe; it makes me think Salad Fingers in Arcadia. Read the rest
Break out the headphones for this tingly and satisfying sound design of macro timelapse thawing of fruits and vegetables. The visuals are quote appetizing and lovely, but the sounds are what really make it amazing. Read the rest
ASMRion generates relaxing "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" soundscapes for you. There are ten sigils with sliders underneath them, each representing a particular sonic ingredient—"leaves rustling in the wind," "barbershop haircut," "whispering psychopath," etc—that allegedly trigger the vaunted ASMR response. Previously. Read the rest
In this video, a hand-cranked shredder is used to slowly mangle aluminum cans, thereby producing a tingle-inducing crinkling noise that allegedly counts as ASMR. At the end, there is a bonus shredding: a styrofoam box. [via] Read the rest
