Modern technology seems always to have been judged according to its utility for human beings. To the extent that technologies have been viewed as tools, instruments, or prostheses for human use, and thus under human control, they have largely been seen in positive, utopian terms.

Sean Young’s replicant Rachael is iconic to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic Blade Runner — which made it all the more challenging when director Denis Villeneuve tasked veteran VFX supervisor John Nelson to bring the character back with the exact early look in a scene in Blade Runner 2049.

If you’ve never seen James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day – either on the big or small screen – now’s the time to embrace this wonder of filmmaking and effects.

I am trying to remember a term for a specific zone designated around a bomb during its diffusal. Something about only certain people being able to pass through, or exchange places during the disposal operation. The term may apply to the rules followed in that zone, rather than the zone itself. I may have got some of the details wrong, but the term designates a transition area. Something about the way that site is regulated and the procedures of disposal are carried out that ensures the safety and authority/hierarchy of the teams undertaking the task (usually during war).

For bonus points, I heard this term because it was the title of an exhibition in London some years ago. Wish I could recall the term, or the exhibition.

Thanks

Looking for examples of science/weird fictions that deal with 'zones': intermediate or parallel realms - often forbidden - beyond the normal sphere of law or reason. ...of course there's 'Stalker' or 'Roadside Picnic' & echoes in the 2010 film 'Monsters' and Jeff VanderMeer's recent 'Southern Reach' series. I'm thinking of Samuel Delaney's concept of the 'paraspace' too, though these are always accessed through some technological prosthesis.

Any other ZONES?

One of the big Hollywood blockbusters to hit the silver screen this year has been Mad Max: Fury Road, which has gotten rave reviews, with many praising the insane and complex visual design of the film.

Films are made with two key variables: time and money. Filmmakers also employ editors. We’ll be kind and say this Turkish TV show ran out of money and couldn’t afford to pay editors to remove the final scene in this (unintentionally hilarious) video, which was broadcast widely.

Suppose you were sitting at home, relaxing on a sofa with your dog, when suddenly your visual image of the dog gave way to that of a steaming bowl of noodles. You might find that odd, no? Now suppose that not just the dog changed, but the sofa too.

HOLLYWOOD, California—Picture a movie theater, packed for the opening night of a blockbuster film. Hundreds of strangers sit next to each other, transfixed. They tend to blink at the same time. Even their brain activity is, to a remarkable degree, synchronized. It’s a slightly creepy thought.

Zona, Geoff Dyer’s recent book about Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece Stalker, has been much discussed for its almost comically thorough dissection of the stately 1979 film. In an account that combines summary, memoir, meditation, tribute, and citation into a kind of deluxe version of the TV recap, Dyer sets out to convey the hypnotic effect Stalker has had on decades of viewers, and on himself. And yet, after reading the book, I was left feeling that something was missing. In both the book and the deluge of Stalker coverage its release has occasioned, perhaps the most crucial, and most popular, part of the film’s afterlife has gone entirely unremarked: the video game version.