So this week I went to see Avatar with a couple of friends (yes, I have those—human ones). I knew the movie would be heavy on tech; and geek that I am, I was not disappointed in that regard. The tech is awesome. But as I sat in the theater, head pounding from wearing those oversized Elvis Costello 3D glasses, I realized something important. I was not engaged.

Sure, Cameron spent 10 years perfecting his blue people. The Na’vi looked cool. The environment is gorgeous. And Cameron’s achievement is inspiring in terms of getting us to think outside the proverbial CGI box in many respects. But the stakes are higher now. For me, good tech is not enough. And it should not be enough. You also need:

• a compelling narrative. The most disappointing aspect of Avatar is the narrative. We have a rich store available to us; I fear Cameron, having hunkered down to focus on the tech, missed out on 10 years’ worth of great discourse. Almost any book on colonial and/or post-colonial narratives could have helped. I could point to the rehashed Pocahontas-meets-kinda-Braveheart storyline (er, both starring Mel Gibson, btw, with a little trail of tears thrown in) as one problem with the film, but that commentary has been made ad nauseam since the movie's release;
• great subtext. Unobtanium? Really? "Sully"? I get it;
• address the WTF?! Factor. Blue "people." Giant trees. Unobtanium (Dude, that’s not even trying). “Going native.” Kill, kill, destroy. I nearly appreciated the nod to Conrad, but that’s too easy as well;
• human characters that are not caricatures;
• dialogue that I cannot anticipate—or even if I can anticipate it (because I’m old and I’ve heard a lot of…stuff), it should engage me. And at the risk of sounding a bit like Ezra Pound lost in a post-toasty world, dammit, “Make it new!”;
• great talent that is not wasted. I’m pretty sure I saw Giovanni Ribisi cringe as he uttered some of his lines. I know I did. Awesome actor, bad fit. Cameron could have called Paul Reiser off the bench for this role.

Midway through Avatar, though, I swear I drifted off.

I was dreaming of Tron. Compelling narrative: check. Great subtext: check. Cool tech (at the time): check. Decent characters and development: check. It may not have had the sweeping narrative of white atonement in the form of a paralyzed, impotent Marine (which reminds me of another line of literary inquiry…but I digress); however, Tron was the film that got me thinking about some of the things I now teach in my writing course, "Technology and Identities."

Apparently the film, Tron Legacy, is expected to be released in 2010, with tie-in video game, Tron Evolution, to follow later in the year. Although the summary I've read emphasizes the common "young man in search of father" narrative, I'm still looking forward to seeing whether  Boxleitner and Bridges still have it. Hey, it's got YaYa DaCosta (of Top Model fame), so it can't be all bad, right?  Right? Don't disappoint me, guys.

*Image via Wikipedia

A Vook is a blend of, you guessed it, a book and video–high-quality multimedia content that's designed to complement the text. Available in web-based and mobile form, a Vook takes 6-8 weeks to make, according to Sallay, and features work from the company's roster of  more than 10,000 independent film producers. The company is working with Simon & Schuster, harperstudio (a division of Harper Collins), and independent authors. So far, Vooks offered on the site range in price from $2.99 to $6.99. I took a peek at the Sherlock Holmes Experience they developed with the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and was intrigued. What would a Vooked version of, say, Clarissa, look like, sound like? Beloved? Would this complement the reading experience or simply lead my students to "watch the video" rather than engage with the text?

"We’re still learning what the right genre is and what works well as a Vook," says Sallay.  "The case for non-fiction is clear. Video has a clear value add to the proposition of a text. Fiction is a bit interesting, different. Some people have absolutely fallen in love with the medium and the piece of candy they get—reading, then watching a video, then going back to the text. Some people hate it, because they say it interrupts the reading."

And still, there is one unanswered question, especially for independent authors: How much does it cost to Vook a book?

What do you think? Does the Vook leap over eReaders like the Kindle and Sony's device, or is this just a fad?