Welcome to Content Catnip

Content Catnip

Quirky Internet Wunderkammer


Comforting Thought

Bite-sized comfort and spirituality in a turmultuous world


Comforting Thought: Kindness is a muscle we exercise

Kindness is not a fixed trait that we either have or lack, but more like a muscle that can be developed and strengthened. We exercise kindness in any moment where we recognise our shared humanity- with all of the hopes, dreams, joys, dissapointments, vulnerability and suffering that this implies. Such simple but profound awareness levels…

Comforting Thought: Holding a Frog

“Holding a frog – if you are quiet and slower than slow, you do not have to ‘catch’ a frog at all – you can just slide your hand beneath one and lift it up without inciting any hint of fear or effort to escape.” Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Comforting Thought: Illnesses come from our lack of connection to nature

Many of our illnesses, stresses and anxieties are due to a lack of connection with nature. Taking a hands-on approach to the natural world will help you to restore that connection. Feel the breeze on your face, let the water of the stream ripple through your hands, lie on the ground, take your shoes off…

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Ancient Word of the Day

Words dredged up from the pelagic zone of language


Ancient Word of the Day: Siamang

Endangered siamangs are the largest type of the gibbon family. They have distinctive black coats and communicate using a complex system of booming calls. They have gorgeous throat sacks that swell up as they sing together. Like other gibbons they form gregarious and close-knit family groups. They face a major existential threat from palm oil…

Ancient Word of the Day: Sussurate

Sussurate: n: to whisper or murmur. The noise produced by a hive of bees, a rustling of leaves in the forest or the crackling of a fire It turns out that elemental experiences for ancient humans echo and whisper back over aeons and are universally received and recognised. No matter where we are on this…

Ancient Word of the Day: Shizen

Nature is not separate from humankind in Japanese culture. It is a part of us. And the need to keep the two in harmony can be seen in every aspect of life, from the design of gardens that incorporate the natural landscape, to the design of houses that blur inside and outside by means of…

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10 Cool Things I Found On the Internet

A weekly palate cleanser of quirky wonder


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Book Reviews

Mind-expanding fantasy, quirky history books and more


Book Review: Real Love – The Art of Mindful Connection by Sharon Salzberg

One of the most erudite, spiritually nourishing and comprehensive books on the topic of love – of self, others and the world. Encompassing romantic and platonic love, familial love, friendship and more, by one of the world’s foremost experts on Loving Kindness Meditation. Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Genre: Non-Fiction, Spirituality, Psychology, Buddhism, Self-Help Publisher: Flatiron books Review in one word: Helpful…

Book Review: A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

A Field Guide to Getting Lost is a collection of loosely related essays that expand upon the idea of wandering, being lost and our human sense of the unknown. The essays are insightful, vivid and at times slow-moving. This is a mosaic of cultural history, autobiography, nature writing and artistic criticism that roves far and…

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Artists, Writers & Musicians In Their Own Words

Unique and inspiring art by interesting people


Artists & Writers in their Own Words: Monica Olivia

Introducing my poetic, spiritual, wise and beautiful friend from Norwegian Lapland Monica Olivia. She is a self-taught Sámi artist who makes art of mind-blowing beauty using a palette of vivid hues found in the most northerly regions of the earth. Monica also has a spiritually nourishing and beautiful blog ‘Ask the Mountains’ where she writes…

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The Natural World

Organisms, real, imagined, extinct and extant.


Environmentalism boils down to faith in the end

Faith in the possibility of change, the prospect of a better future. For green shoots in the rubble, fresh water in the desert. And our faith is often tested. Everywhere I have looked, everywhere I have been – places bent and broken, despoiled and desolate, polluted and poisoned, I have found new life springing from…

The Anatomy of Fantastical Creatures

Do you know what the juicy interior of a Kraken looks like? Have you ever seen the inside of a unicorn’s magical horn? What about the biochemical transformation of a man into a a werewolf? Here are some marvellous anatomical figures from French Chimerologist Camille Renversade who in 2014 combined zoology charts, anatomy boards and…

Six Quirky Facts About Red Pandas

Red pandas are sweet looking, unobtrusive and stunning mammals that live in the mountainous forests in the Himalayas. With their lustrous and vibrant reddish brown fur and round sweet faces; they have the vague appearance of a fox rather than a Giant Panda. Here’s more about a mysterious animal that my boyfriend and I fell…

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Te Ao Māori

All about the indigenous culture of Aotearoa, New Zealand


Comforting Thought: Saying sorry will go a long way

Kuoa rongo ake au…Akakoa iti noa te kuru pounamuHe taonga tuku iho kia kaha, kia toa, kia māiai, kia mataarakia manawanuiI have learned…A thoughtful note to someone you’ve avoidedSaying sorry will go a long way

Phone someone today and say, ’I care…’

Kua rongo ake au…I tēnei rangi tonu toro atuTōu ringa ki tō tamaiti, whāngaia tōu hinengaroPatua he waea ki tetahi atu, ki atu,’Ko au e whakaaro nui atu nei, kia kaha’I have learned…Today reach out Hug your childPat a cat, appreciate our country,Phone someone today and say, ’I care…’

Words and Music: Call on a karakia

Kua rongo ake au…Mā te karakia mā te īnoi, mā te noho pukuKa taea e au ngā mea katoaI have learned…That I can call upon a karakiaWhen I look for solutions to theChallenges that face me.

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Content Catnip TV

Transportative videos made by Content Catnip


Content Catnip TV: Team Lab Borderless, Tokyo

TeamLab Borderless in Tokyo is a remarkable audio-visual attraction in Tokyo and a must-see in the city if you ever visit. It’s on expansive, harbour-facing area of Odaiba which is encircled by the very scenic train ride, along with excellent shopping centre Diver City, which features a showcase level of award-winning ramen restaurants from throughout…

Travel: Arashiyama boat ride, Kyoto

This is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me and the Polish Bear, we went on a boat tour in Arashiyama in Kyoto in 2019, it was unforgettable. I took a lot of footage from my Canon and used a gimbal to smooth out the rocking on the boat and put it together as…

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Travel Tales

Nostalgic travel from the time before ‘you know whathappened


Travel: The Beautiful Terrace Windows of Triana, Sevilla

Back in 2010 during a particularly sweltering summer, I visited Andalucia and soaked in the beautiful architecture in Sevilla. The best way to see all of the charming neighbourhoods and historic monuments was going the tourist routes with an open-top bus. This also afforded me excellent views onto all of the terrace houses with their…

Travel: Kolejcowo is a cute and creepy version of Poland in miniature

When I was in Poland in 2019, I didn’t hesitate to visit the Kolejcowo in Świebodzki Station in Wrocław. This is the largest model railway in Poland, but also a rather amazing depiction of how life in Poland actually looks. Everything, right down to the petrol stations, graffiti, and the shops actually exists in real…

Cuba Dupa Wellington 2021

Each year at the end of March there is a street festival in Wellington. Cuba Dupa is always vibrant, vibrational and brings out the wild and vivacious side of the little city. Even though I’m a total introvert, strangely enough I really like loud concerts and street festivals where I can dance and have a…

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Obscure Music

Unusual little-heard music to inspire creativity


Moondog: The enigmatic jazz wizard of post-war NYC

I came across Moon dog on one of those long and meandering trips through obscure music on YouTube. He was a true innovator and an avante-garde enigma. For one he looked like Gandalf or Hagrid. Aside from this, he also invented several new musical instruments including a small triangular instrument he called the Ooo and…

The art of Kulning: Night-scented stock are called in for the long summer evening

Kulning is an ancient, sweet and sorrowful form of Scandinavian music used to herd cows and goats back down from their high mountain pastures in parts of Norway and in certain provinces of Sweden, Jämtland and Härjedalen. In practical use since medieval times, the mysterious tones were also thought to be a deterrent to potential predators like wolves…

Awesome low-fi / house / ambient / psychedelic artists from New Zealand

Skip to the end for an amazing playlist of these artists on Youtube Aldous Harding From Christchurch, Aldous Harding is known throughout the world for her strange, unnerving stage presence and her delicate and yet raw brand of folk. She’s quite enigmatic and unlike any other artist. You may take a while to warm to…

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Quirky History

Lesser-known morsels of olden day stuff


Surreal vintage mental health posters from Japan

I found these amazing Japanese advertisements and vintage posters advertising Abilify, Zoloft, Ritalin, Serenase and other medications that are used for a variety of different mental health conditions. Despite me not knowing how to read Japanese, the storytelling here through design is evocative, straight-forward to understand and incredibly imaginative. It brings to mind Dali and…

Ancient word of the day: Twankle

Twankle To twang your fingers on a musical instrument or absent-mindedly strum or play an instrument without thought. Other concatenations include: Twiddling, twandling, tootling, plunking, noodling, thrummling or tudeling. Tudeling (origin) German dudeln – to perform badly. The crappiest song that almost everyone can play on the piano Chopsticks was invented in 1877 by composer…

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