Something Else

Throw away those abdominal exercisers] Magic Eye, the Video is here. Half an hour a day with this beauty and you'll never have to do a sit-up again.

In case you've never been to a bookshop, or spent so much time locked in someone's loo they think you must have done an Elvis Presley, Magic Eye is 'a whole new way of looking at the world'. It consists of shiny paper imprinted with blobby patterns that, if you cross your eyes and think of Ginsberg, resolve into 3-dimensional pictures.

There are, however, two little problems with this. A poster is a different animal from a TV screen: it's static, for a start. Presumably, the brainboxes who thought up this idea didn't buy their video for 50 quid at an auction and their TV for pounds 25 at an ex-rental shop. Pictures that wobble and curve at the edge don't guarantee ease of vision.

The second, however, could spark off a whole new exercise craze. The video is intended to be viewed from a distance of 2 to 3 ft; any further back, and you're perpetually losing it. Possibly this can be done sitting forward on a chair, but most people I know watch TV on the floor. So: for maximum effect, position yourself, kneeling or cross- legged, back straight, knees against whatever the TV stands on. Then, to find the image most easily, press your nose against the screen and pull back, slowly, retaining the original focus. Repeat whenever you lose the picture. Callanetics is dead. My stomach muscles will never be the same again. Ouch.

Serena Mackesy

'Magic Eye - The Video' is currently on release from Lumiere at pounds 9.99

(Photograph omitted)