Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.23.16

Why Aren’t We Driving Self-Driving Cars Yet? It’s All About The Culture
Driverless cars are here and they work and by all accounts they make driving safer than when humans are piloting. So why aren’t they already in showrooms? Not so fast. It’s not just about whether … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-23

Ten years after: The Fantasticks and me
From 2006: As for me, I’m the gray-headed drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and a resident of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, none of which I anticipated when I was sixteen. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-23

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Put 15 Musicians In An Active Volcano Crater For 10½ Hours, And Here’s What You Get

“The result was an immersive layering of experimental, otherworldly soundscapes, evocative one minute of Sun Ra, the next of Aphex Twin or Autechre. Glitch and drone melded with desert-blown free jazz. Mournful loops of electrified cello overlaid throbbing synthesizer, the music constantly spinning apart and reassembling into a whole.” (includes audio)

Writer Attacked And Harassed In His Home Village, Even As His Books Draw Acclaim In English Translation

“After undergoing a vicious attack by caste leaders in his home state of Tamil Nadu, his novel One Part Woman last month was the subject of a landmark court decision defending the right of artists to critically depict their own communities. Recent interest in [Perumal] Murugan’s work has exploded, with five novels coming out, translated into English from the original Tamil. But Mr. Murugan seems unsure of what kind of writer he will be now.”