(Updated May 26, 2000)

Good news for those who rolled out of bed early Friday morning (May 26) to view the Sydney Opera House webcast live via Quicktime - the event will be archived on the Biennale site beginning May 29.

Currently, there is a 100% stream of the event online at that site for viewers with 128K ISDN connections or faster.

The webcast seemed to be a problem for most of the people IK! was in contact with. People complained of jumpy, blocky video, bad sound, long stretches of a frozen screen and more.

IK! had the same trouble everyone else did - we were all set up and ready to go with the on-site test video having worked perfectly. But when it came time to click the "watch now" button, nothing happened. We clicked, clicked and clicked - and did everything we could think of to get connected with no luck at all. Then it was time for a fast Ex It to the radio station to watch the last half of the event on a computer with no sound.

Streaming and webcasting are new technologies - as are pretty much all computer technologies. We're happy for the opportunity to even see a portion of the lecture, but are anxious for connections to improve in time for the next event!

(Entered May 21, 2000)
(Updated May 23, 2000)

Yoko is visiting Sydney, Australia to participate in the Sydney Biennale 2000. This several-week-long contemporary art event will carry on through July, but Yoko's participation happens this week with what has been called both a "performance" and a "lecture." In Yoko's case..a lecture is also a performance, based on the two that I've had the opportunity to attend. They were both fun, informative and intense. We have no idea what Yoko's plans are for the Sydney event, but in past lectures, Yoko has jumped off a ladder (demonstrating her flying techniques), crawled under a table (to find her comfort zone) and interacted with the audience to the delight of everyone in attendance.

Yoko's special appearance at the Sydney Opera House will take place Friday, May 26 at 8:30 PM Australian time and will be available via live web cast using Quicktime 4. Check out the Sydney Biennale web site here for more details about the Biennale and to see a pretty cool picture of Yoko.

Eight-thirty PM Aussie time converts to six-thirty AM in the Eastern United States. But there is a tricky little thing about Daylight Savings Time, which the Eastern U.S. is on - Australia is NOT on daylight savings time. This might mean the event will take place at 5:30 Eastern Time..but we can't be positively sure. If anyone out there is an expert on time zones, please contact us!

The Biennale site will be running a test video so people can check their connections ahead of time.