Laser shows light the night at planetarium
■‘Laser Offspring’ and ‘Laser
Floyd “The Wall” 2000’show
on Friday and Saturday nights
©Good Clean
Fun
By Monica Hande
Oregon Daily Emerald
Dancing lasers aren’t an every
day sight. But they are a sight to
see on Fridays and Saturdays at
the Lane Education Service Dis
trict Planetarium.
This Friday, two new laser
shows are opening at the planetari
um, which is located at 2300 Leo
Harris Parkway behind Autzen
Stadium. “Laser Offspring” will
make its appearance in Eugene,
and “Laser Floyd ‘The Wall’
2000,” a revised version of a previ
ous Pink Floyd laser show, will
follow.
Pink Floyd has been very popu
lar, said Jon Elvert, the planetari
um’s director, probably because it
appeals to different generations.
The audiences are usually of mixed
age groups, he said. “Laser Floyd
‘The Wall’ 2000” is not a new show,
he said, but an updated one. He
said it incorporates new graphics
and technology. Laser shows are
about entertainment for all ages, he
said.
Basically, he said, a laser show
involves images choreographed to
music.
There are two components to
the creation of a laser show, said
Scott Huggins, vice president of
the museum and planetarium divi
sion of Laser Fantasy Internation
al, a company based in Bellevue,
Wash., that develops and programs
most of the laser shows the Lane
ESD Planetarium presents.
“There’s the part that we do as
artists and technicians before the
show,” he said, which includes an
imating and digitizing hand-drawn
and computerized designs, much
like cartoons. Synthesizers are
used to create moving, abstract im
ages, he said, and those images are
then assigned to a soundtrack.
And there’s also a live compo
nent to a laser show, Huggins said.
A technician stands behind the
scenes and controls attributes such
as size and color.
“They’re interpreting the show
like an artist,” he said.
In a laser show, most visual ele
ments are projected onto the dome
of the planetarium, Huggins said,
but sometimes lasers are cast from
the front of the room to the back,
and theatrical fog is used to make
the beams more visible.
“The lights and music were cho
reographed well,” said James Pow
ers, a senior biochemistry major,
referring to the time he saw “Laser
Floyd” a few years ago. “It was
eye-catching and just all-around
neat. If I had more time and mon
ey, I would go to them a lot more
often.”
The money required to see a laser
show at Lane ESD Planetarium is
$6, and tickets go on sale at 9 p.m.
the night of the show. “Laser Off
spring” begins at 9:30 p.m., and
“Laser Floyd ‘The Wall’ 2000” be
gins at 11 p.m. Both shows are fea
tured on Fridays and Saturdays.
Most laser shows run for about 45 to
55 minutes, Huggins said.
The show schedule changes
about every three months, Elvert
said. Occasionally, the planetarium
features holiday laser shows, but a
Halloween show has not yet been
scheduled for this year.
Wine knowledge not necessarily limited to rich, upper class
CHEAP
ELEGANCE
TRAVIS GENY
Wine: nectar of the gods,
beverage of the privi
leged. A drink re
served for the Janies
Bonds and Thomas Crowns of the
world to impress the ladies.
Acquiring a knowledge of wine is
one of those things that people cate
gorize with the things they would
like to do someday but just don’t
have the time or money for, such as
visiting the Pyramids or the Louvre.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, as
I hope this on-going column will
make clear.
Similar to many people, I regarded
wine as an almost mystical thing that
was solely the play-thing of the rich. I
always desired to know about this
fanciful treat but didn’t know where
to start or even how.
There is always that one person
in every group of friends who has
such knowledge and uses it to im
press the crowd at dinner when the
question comes up — “Which wine
goes with this pasta?” This friend
just happened to be my roommate.
When I mentioned my desire to
attain this holy knowledge, he intro
duced me to a book about wine. In
side was the secret to what I had
2nd./hmual OregonJlotnecotnmg
, October 20, 2000, 8:30 pm
8MT Ballroom
Tickets are now on sale at the Break in the EMU
suspected all along: that there really
isn’t much to knowing about wine
and that wine-loving is more a mat
ter of taste than real higher learning,
as so many believe.
Now, there are those in the world
who take wine very seriously, in
cluding here in the good old United
States. In France, for example, there
are very strict laws governing how
wine is to be made, what it can be
called and so on. There are even
government wine tasters who eval
uate the quality of wine. Here in the
United States, there are also laws
that are molded after the French
model of governing wine produc
tion, most notably in California but
in Oregon as well. However, we will
be dealing with the much lighter
side of enjoying wine.
I will do my best to debunk that
myth that only expensive wine is
■YI'IYlHflU.
Community
Center tar the
Performing Arts
8th &
Lincoln
■ Tonight ■
Trance Mission
andChii^ilchin
New Age
Throat Singers from Tuva
$12 advance, $u, door, &oo pm
■ Friday, the 13th ■
Rumble For Your life:
16 Second Hum,
Double-O-Seven,
Dijnenjzanami
Costume Ball
Rumblefish Records Showcase
$6 w/costume, $8 w/out, 8:oo pm
■ Sunday ■
IheBtyWu
CD ReleaseParty w/Nectar Way
Jam Rock
$8door,8:oopm
■ Wednesday ■
Mutabaraka
Reggae
$12 advance, $14 door, 8:00 pm
AH Ages Welcome • 687-2746
good wine, and prove that a $5 botde
of wine cannot only be a bargain but a
truly enjoyable and memorable expe
rience. Wines will be presented by re
gion, type, quahty and cost. We will
explore the many different wine-pro
ducing areas of the world, as well as
feature local vintners and vineyards. I
will also tackle the daunting task of
matching certain wines with certain
foods. This will be a chance to learn
how to better wine and dine your
date, or it will teach you to identify a
truly delectable wine from a $2 bot
tle of red-eye.
Being a college student means
cutting costs and living on a budget,
yet there is no reason that you
shouldn’t be able to live richly —
without being rich.
Travis Geny’s column is written every other
week for Pulse.
Richard O’Brien’s
Live on Stage!
Fridays and Saturdays
at 11:00 PM
October 27,28 &
November 3 & 4> 2000
Special Halloween
Performances, Tuesday,
October 31 at 7:30 & 10 PM
with Costume Contests
Sompt, Dmtrt A Beverage* AsmUaNe
Acton Cabaret, 9% Willamette
This Is the stage show, not the movie!
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C all 683-43b8
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