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The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com Thursday, Novemb 8, 2007
INTERNET KILLE T FETVT STR
Our TV editor went on an Internet TV-only diet for
upcoming events
an entire week. How did he make it through - it's everywhere
the Michigan/Michigan State game? you should be this
By Michael Passman I Daily TV/New Media Editor

our television is
dying.
Well, not your
television per se
- I'm sure that 24"
TV/DVD combo your aunt
bought you as a high school
graduation present is doing
just swell - but the medium
you grew up on is on its way
out. It's not broken, it's just
dated, waiting for something
new to push it aside.
At least that'sthe impres-
sion I'm getting from the cur-
rent Writers Guild strike and
the recent explosion of Inter-
net-centric business models
in the industry. Suddenly all
of the major networks are
distributing content via the
Internet and have plans to
drastically ramp up content
availabilityinthe near future.
The writing is on the wall.
But the idea of watching
television on a computer has
never really appealed to me.
Yeah, if I miss an episode of
a show I forgot to DVR it's
a nice resource to have, but
that's basically the extent of
my Internet television view-
ing. But there is an increasing
number of people who rely
heavily on the Internet for
their TV content and seem
largely satisfied by it.
Media outlets and net-
worksboastoftheincreased
viability of Internet-based
television, but for whom?
Can the current Internet
landscape satisfy someone
who watches conventional
television on a consistent
basis?
As someone who a Com-
munications professor would
term a heavy TV viewer, the
only way I could attempt to
* answer thesequsinabt
anecdotally, was by eliminat-
ing conventional television
from my life for a week. To
fill the void I turned to my
computer and nearly whatev-
er I could find on it. I limited
myself to streaming content
and legal downloads if neces-
sary, staying away from Bit-
Torrent and anything with
the potential to blow up my
computer.
I began my journey into
the black hole of Internet
TV last Tuesday - think
"Apocalypse Now" sans Jim

ON SCREEN
Since 1993, the Ann
Arbor Polish Film Festival
has been an annual
cultural event, presenting
a broad range of narrative
forms and visual styles
in contemporary Polish
cinema. It returns
this Saturday at The
Michigan Theater for
two days. Tickets are
$6.75 with student ID.

AT THE PODIUM
Nadine Strossen, the
current president of the
American Civil Liberties
Union, will give her lecture
"Defending Freedom:
Even for the Thoughts
we Hate" at Honigman
Auditorium in the Law
School tomorrow at 4 p.m.
She was also named one
of the 100 most influential
lawyers in America.
The event is free.

DAY 1:
This may be more diffi-
cult than expected. I nearly
slipped and turned on my TV
when I awoke this morning
and almost did it again after
returning from class. These
were habitual reactions,
equivalent to flicking a light
switch when walking into a
-dark room. It's messed up; I

know. websites to mine tomorrow when it pops up on
The first show on my epic for old episodes. I attempt to Hulu. Instead I find a stream-
voyage into Internet televi- watch a low-res "Treehouse" ing version of last night's new
sion came via Hulu, the new episode from the third season "South Park," which allows
legal streaming site stocked never previously seen. but give up 40 minutes later me to watch animated wood-
with past and present shows after itchasn'tfinished loading land critters rape Popeye,
from NBC and Fox, among DAY 2: through the first act. Nuts. albeit a day later than usual.
others. An average Tuesday It's Halloween and I'm not
night consists of noncha- watching "Simpsons, Tree- DAY 3: DAY 4:
lantly watching a "Simpsens" house of Horror" reruns on I've settled into a day-late After catching up on "The
rerun and half of "Jeopardy," CWBUPN or whatever it's TV schedule, which is a bit Office," I boot up Joost - a
but instead I took in two epi- called now. This might be a disorienting. A new episode free downloadable program
sodes of "It's Always Sunny first. Good thing the Inter- of "The Office" is on tonight, that hosts limited content
in Philadelphia," a show Ihad net is full of less-than-legal but I won't watch it until See INTERNET TV, Page 4B

Art as part of the healing process

Gift of Art aids
patients in regaining
their identity
By BRENT PANTALEO
For the Daily
Hospitals don't exactly radiate
warmth and coziness. Those who
have spent countless agonizing
hours passing the time as smoothly
as the human body passes a kidney
stone know too well how bleak hos-
pitals can feel. The sterile decor.
Needles. Disillusioned states of con-
sciousness primed by prescription
drugs.
There can definitely be bru-
tal moments for hospital patients.
That's why people like Elaine Sims,
director of the Gifts of Art pro-
gram at the University of Michigan
Health System, are doing their best
to ease the experience.
"Health care has become so
advanced and complex in such
a brief time that somewhere the
patient's identity was lost," Sims
said.
With Gifts of Art, there are many
opportunities for patients to regain
that identity. They can choose a
favorite painting for their room
from the Art Cart, an actual cart
of framed poster art that volun-
teers wheel from room to room. If a
patient would rather listen to music,
he can request bedside musicians.
The performers range from School
of Music, Theatre and Dance stu-
dents to established musicians like

seven health care administrators
and practitioners around the coun-
try who run programs similar to
Gifts of Art.
The members of AHA were
recently featured in an interview
on "Health Matters," a radio show
hosted by registered nurse Rachel
Rockafellow. The show airs on Yel-
lowstone Public Radio and is based
in Montana.
Among those interviewed on the
show was Dr. Julie Prazich, a doc-
tor and artist for San Diego Hos-
pice and Palliative Care. Prazich
recalled an experience in which she
met with a patient who was tired of
doctors and turned her away. Pra-
zich went back to her car, donned
an artist's cap and returned as an
artist. She was then able to connect
with the patient, and the two paint-
ed together.
"I can't imagine my practice
without having art involved in some
way," Prazich said in the interview.
Another AHA member inter-
viewed was Tina Mullen, who heads
Shands Arts in Medicine in Gaines-
ville, Fla. Mullen's program, which
is partnered with the University of
JENNIFER KRON/Daily Florida Health Science Center, edu-
cates health care professionals by
showing them how to apply the arts
alth care", move- in a health care setting.
hampioned. "One of the things we envision
should know that at Arts in Healthcare Advocates is
helped start and lots of doctors using their practice
which is no lon- the way Julie (Prazich) described
worldwide move- she uses hers," Mullen said. "But
to get there, I think you have to get
erating. Sims is to these (medical students) when
Arts in Health- they're in school."
roup founded by See HOSPITAL ART, Page 3B

IN CONCERT
Sometimes called
"the Brazilian Bob
Dylan," Grammy-
award winning Caetano
Veloso is coming to Hill
Auditorium tomorrow at
8 p.m. He is a pioneer of
tropicalismo, a subgenre
that conflates Brazilian
poRand rock'n'roll into a
sound both psychedelic
and multinational.
Tickets are $10-58.

Noel McRobbie performs at the University of Michigan Hospital as part of a Gifts of Art event.

harpist Julie Hussar, the head of the
Bedside Music Program.
The most celebrated accomplish-
ment of Gifts of Art is "The Dragon
of Wishes, Hopes and Dreams,"
a collaborative effort with Anne
Mondro, an assistant professor in
the School of Art and Design. The
16-foot dragon is comprised of more
than 1,700 paper fans that contain

inspirational words and pictures.
Located outside the University
Hospital Main Lobby, the dragon
is dedicated to the patients, visitors
and staff of UMHS.
The idea of art in health care may
seem relatively novel, but it has been
in place for a while at UMHS. Gifts
of Art, which dates back to the mid-
'80s. It was one of the firstprograms

in the "arts in hea
ment, a fact Sims cl
"This campus si
we as a university
further the trend,
ger a trend, but av
ment," she said.
She isn't exagg
also a member of
care Advocates, a g

AT THE PIG
To promote their critically
acclaimed debut album
Mirrored, experimental
rock band Battles will
be playing The Blind
Pig tomorrow. Come
prepared to feel the noise
- their live shows are ,
known to be particularly
dynamic. Tickets are $15.

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