Lady with a Soothing Voice Assembles LOTR's Wizard Battle

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I found the weirdest video on YouTube today. I've been reading up on "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" (ASMR), in which people report feeling soothing or pleasurable sensations from certain sounds, including soft human voices. There's a whole ASMR culture out there in which some people actually create entire videos in which they speak softly and make pleasurable sounds (tapping, brushing, etc.). Think of it as a "white noise" effect, or for those of us in the States, the reason why you want to go into a coma while listening to NPR.

So there's this one lady who makes a series of videos themed around "childhood nostalgia." She'll talk about a subject from people's youth while making (supposedly) pleasurable sounds. I guess the idea is you're supposed to cuddle up and listen to her while she talks, and it will help you relax or sleep. Anyway, one of her videos I found revolves around Lego! She actually assembles "The Wizard Battle" while gently going over the history of Lego.

I guess the thing to keep in mind here is that the video is NOT intended as a Lego history lesson or a review of the set. (Most of us would assemble this in 10 minutes--she takes the full hour.) It's a relaxation video in which she uses her discussion of this particular set and the sounds she makes as her medium. I have to admit, it is weirdly relaxing to quietly listen to her and drown out other input. It's particularly helpful if you listen wearing headphones, as a lot of these ASMR artists use 3-D microphones to create an acoustic effect.

Here's the link (I don't know how to embed the video in here):

Edited December 18, 2013 by ResIpsaLoquitur

[SnapLock]

whispering is just annoying lol

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Never have I heard of ASMR. Is it weird that listening to her talk is driving me up a wall, but the taps, clicks, and other noises have the opposite affect? It's nice she took the time to research a bit of the history of LEGO. It seems she really puts effort in making her videos

Oh, NPR > Coma >

[Wardancer]

Finally I have found my fetish!

It is like the dude in The Big Lebowski, listening to bowling noises.

This is so funny, we live in the strangest of all times - ASMR culture apparently likes roleplays, so here you can pretend getting an eye exam in front of your computer:

Edited December 18, 2013 by Wardancer

[Hammerhand]

I can kind of understand how it could be relaxing, but that video drove me nuts because of how long it took her to build the thing. She took too long sorting the pieces... I never sort them. I did however appreciate her telling about the history of lego.

Agreed about NPR.

[Martin_B]

I heard about this a ASMR thing while back - an old online acquaintance of mine admitted that he got a nice little buzz from hearing someone eat a grapefruit! I find the scientific side to pretty interesting...although I'm not getting a strong reaction from this video, I must admit that it's more relaxing than irritating. It's not an unpleasant feeling, I must admit. Good for easing anxiety after a busy day at work!

The effect is indeed increased by listening through headphones (if only to drown out the sound of the rain that's hitting my window atm!)

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I can kind of understand how it could be relaxing, but that video drove me nuts because of how long it took her to build the thing. She took too long sorting the pieces... I never sort them. I did however appreciate her telling about the history of lego.

Agreed about NPR.

Well, again, I don't think the intent was for her to speed-build it, but to just give herself something to do while she spoke for an hour. She could probably just read the dictionary for an hour to accomplish the same effect, but her doing a Lego chat for an hour gave it a neat twist which is probably intended to distinguish her from other ASMR-ists. (It's certainly more fun than simulating an eye exam IMHO.)

[Hammerhand]

Well, again, I don't think the intent was for her to speed-build it, but to just give herself something to do while she spoke for an hour. She could probably just read the dictionary for an hour to accomplish the same effect, but her doing a Lego chat for an hour gave it a neat twist which is probably intended to distinguish her from other ASMR-ists. (It's certainly more fun than simulating an eye exam IMHO.)

Yeah, It's more just my lego OCD... Just listening to it with out watching the video was relaxing though.

[Deathleech]

Did anyone else get the impression she had just painted her nails and didn't want to chip them while building, or was that just me?

[Legonardo]

Was browsing at 2 am, was having trouble sleeping, but this did it