?Fear? HTML?? asks Igor Stromajer, who has created an art form out of chanting Internet source script off existing pages on the network. In collaboration with other artists, Stromajer will sing HTML and Java script here in France at one of Montpellier?s opera venues on December 15. He is part of the growing body of performers who are using the Internet both as their source material and as the medium through which to communicate their art.

I saw a demonstration of Stromajer?s strange art last week, at a preview of the performance. He sang strings of the HTML and Java script obtained from Internet pages. This included the numbers, parenthesis and other marks being read off in an unending stream.

Quite bizarre.

Stromajer, who was born in Slovenia, also performs a clownish dance, which he calls ?HTML ballet?, while script is being read off. The sound, which to my ears sounded slightly like a type of Gregorian chant, is quite robotic. The performance in Montpellier on December 15, is part of Stromajer?s Oppera Internettikka, a series of low-tech opera art projects he launched in 1998. He describes his art as a combination of classical opera tactics and strategies, together with sung HTML source code, Java scripts and applets.

?Opera is a very strictly coded form of art with a lot of passion, and the Internet is a lonely place of solitude and intimate communication which is becoming more and more fragile, dangerous and suspicious,? he says about his new production, called the Oppera Internettikka ? Protection et Security.

He and two other artists with specific roles will perform an ?opera? combining sounds, voices, noises, internet audio files and sound-manipulating machines.

The libretto for the opera is composed out texts written and proposed in advance by online visitors to the broadcast site, lyrics from a web search engine which Stromajer is manipulating in real-time, and HTML source code from selected French secret service web sites.

A live internet audio broadcast will be part of the performance. For a bit of strangeness go to www.intima.org and assess the performance?s dedicated site.

Some users are so enthusiastic about the realism achieved by Nintendo?s Wii videogames console they are tossing the remote control at their TV sets or banging themselves in the head.

Some self confessed addicts have posted online images and videos of the damage they have done to themselves or their sets. Some of the bloggers report that the Wiimote strap is too flimsy and have detailed stories of the remote flying out of perspiring hands and crashing into TV screens. See http://wiihaveaproblem.com for the gory details.

The site encourages readers to post mishaps. So far the site counts 20 broken straps, 13 incidents of damage to a television, seven accounts of people who have been injured, three incidents involving ceiling fans, two accounts of wall damage, and two involving laptops. Only one window has been broken so far.

How big is the problem? Big enough that Nintendo felt it necessary to send an e-mail to customers with further advice on how to use the console?s controller.

The Wii control, called a Wiimote, is a wireless device that is sensitive to arm motions made by a player. The device is programmed to translate swinging, waving, turning or jabbing motions made by a player into action in a game. Thus players can quite realistic make golf swings, or sword thrusts, or do some bowling in their living room. The device comes with a strap you are supposed to attach to your hand, before doing the movements.

You can guess where this is going.

?Hold the Wii remote firmly and do not let go,? Nintendo says on its website. ?Even while wearing the wrist strap, make sure you don?t let go of the Wii Remote during game play and do not use excessive motion. For example, in Wii Sports bowling, the proper way to let go of the ball while bowling is to release the ?B? button on the Wii Remote -DO NOT LET GO OF THE Wii REMOTE ITSELF.? Get it?

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