The first time I planned on going to RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium's Holiday Laser Show, I drove in through the Oxford Street entrance, joined the car queue circling for parking spaces, and 20 minutes later I left when I finally reached East Avenue. I don't know if it was the planetarium or the museum that was hoppin', but it was not my day to trip on the light fantastic.

The next day I was blessed when I pulled into a space just as someone was leaving. As I walked into the domed building, I realized it was the first place I had visited when I moved to Rochester. A planetarium was an innovative thing then, and we're still lucky to be in a city that has one. I had thought the gyroscope that I had bought in the now non-existent gift shop was really cool, man. The sight of the "side shows" brought back memories, but the line was already massive so I quickly bought my ticket and joined it. It was a bit of a relief when I remembered that here the audience is let in all at once. And by the same women who sold me my ticket. That it was 15 minutes late didn't bother me much, but parents were beginning to get as antsy as their kids.

I'll be the first to admit I know nada about laser light "art." I haven't a clue how it works, so I don't know what could look easy, but be incredibly difficult to do. My only experience is the High Falls show shown on the gorge, and I think that is lame, except for the facts that we even have a laser light show and that it's projected onto our beautiful gorge. So when the laser show began I thought the same thing that I always think when viewing the High Falls show: why don't they team up some good animators with the laser light people? We have some great animators in town, and maybe if they put their heads together they could come up with a show that doesn't look like an elementary school class project. Import some people from MilkDrop. But, as I said, I know nada, so maybe the swirling, blinking, cobwebby whirly-gigs are amazing feats of laser technology. To me they are still lame and my sweet tooth is still hankering for some eye candy.

To be fair, some of it was just plain pretty: the floating snowflakes, the yellow moon above the trees, the ice storm photos. (It's nice the ice storm was good for something, but the one shot of an upside down car was a bit distasteful.) And it was fun to sing "Let it Snow" with Mitch Miller as the lyrics came on screen, even if me and my friend were the only ones. (I blame it on the lack of the bouncing ball.) One of the songs sounded suspiciously like Justin T's Christmas anthem of last year - "*?!# in a Box" - which gave us a good giggle. But much of it was swirling whirly-gigs, and after one piece that reminded me of when cookie cutters attack, the girl next to me said, "I don't know if I'll see straight again."

Good. Then she probably didn't notice that according to the RMSC, Pluto is still a planet.

Next up: "Elsewhere" at Image City.