Artistic Illusions: Nile/Egypt

How would you like to look out on the Nile from your living room? (Our Egyptian subscribers, who may actually be looking on the great river while reading this, can ignore the question.) Can't be done, you say, under the current laws of physics? Wrong-o. With a little imagination, some paint, an understanding of perspective, and more than a little interior decorating chutzpah, you can see the Nile from the comfort of your Barcalounger. Artist Kathy Roark demonstrates how in this interesting-concept/poor-execution how-to. Painting a living room or rec room wall to appear as if one is looking out of a stone temple chamber on to the banks of the Nile river, Roark and the videographers do what most non-professional video people do when making a video: wing it. Which is why the camerawork is unexceptional, the music loop aurally maddening, and the script (what script?) spotty. Tighter editing, an actual script, and less music might have turned an interesting idea into an interesting video. As it is, only the idea has any appeal. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)