Spotify will now create playlists for your pet

Your cat thinks your taste stinks. Also that you're mingy with the laser pointer.

Image source: Spotify/Big Think
  • Spotify has just announced a free playlist-creation site for pets.
  • Research suggests that animals have their own music preferences.
  • Hedgehogs possibly don't get enough respect.
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music neuroscience internet sound art emotions. pet playlist

This incredible interactive map plays the 13 emotions music makes us feel

It doesn't matter where you're from — music is an emotional powerhouse.

  • Over 2,500 people from the U.S. and China listened to the same music and were similarly affected by it.
  • The study identifies a specific set of feelings that music can evoke, which you can experience in this incredible interactive map.
  • Further research can use these findings to figure out how music stirs emotion in us.
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neuroscience emotions psychology art language entertainment music

How to criticize, from a critic

Film critic A.O. Scott on how to be more constructive in your criticisms.

  • Criticism is about more than likes and dislikes.
  • NY Times film critic A.O. Scott warns against the "emptiness" of certain adjectives when it comes to giving constructive and meaningful criticism.
  • Pulling from nearly two decades of experience, Scott's book shows why criticism matters and how we are all critics.
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entertainment books consumerism film music art funny

Who decides whether art is ‘good’ or ‘bad’?

Hierarchies of taste exist in our society, but their roots often reflect more than just the quality of work.

  • "Taste" in art and entertainment can often represent societal hierarchies, prejudices, and inequalities.
  • Part of the job of a critic is to refuse categorization of art as "high" or "low."
  • By challenging and redefining these assumptions, critics can level the playing field to include work from all walks of life.
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art entertainment film history humanity jazz music literature performance politics sociology race inequality

The surest path to success is not aiming for success

The Zen of choreographer Merce Cunningham comes alive in a new documentary about his life.

Photo by Miko Malkshasyan / Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
  • In Cunningham, director Alla Kovgan brings the avant-garde dancer to life.
  • Merce Cunningham's seven-decade career left behind some of the most important modern dances in the twentieth century.
  • In this interview with Big Think, Kovgan discusses how she approached the film while sharing Cunningham's ideas about success.
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film music filmmaking performance art storytelling dance