Week 4

In 2006 the Beats by Dr. Dre ® company was founded in hopes of producing better quality headphones for consumers to enjoy their music and succeeded so in the release of their first set of headphones; the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones in late 2008. These head phones were a huge success and gave the company a great start. The headphones are available in many colours from red, blue, green, yellow, any colour really, even options to customize and personalize the headphones. They are able to easily fold for better carrying, a detachable cable, runs on AAA batteries, and its most known and popular features: the extra bass along with the noise cancelling capabilities.

The above video is of NBA basketball player Kevin Garnett in an excellent commercial showing the capability of the noise cancelling headphones in being able to "Hear What You Want".


After consulting many friends and looking over reviews by other users I decided to purchase a pair myself and I must say that they most certainly had a good reputation for a reason. These headphones we're perfect for long road trips or just focusing on the music which was the inspiration behind the headphones by co-founder hip hop/ rap artist Dr. Dre.

The headphones although with a lot of great praise from consumers, also have their downsides as well. It costs nearly $300 for these headphones which is not very cheap, but come with a 1 year warranty where Monster® (the company associated with Beats Electronics) would either fix or replace your headphones depending on condition and circumstance. With the proper care these headphones can last a long time but with neglection towards the wear and tear of the product can bring the usages time lower and lower. The headphones have the ability to fold for more easier portability, but doing so the wrong way can result in damage and have the headphones loosen instead of lock in place. I know this from first hand experience after using a pair.

Another problem that can occur is that the cord that you plug one end into the headphones and the other end into your device can crack or wires become exposed and ruin the quality of the audio. Although the loosened headphones can be fixed under warranty to an extent, the chord may not so easily be replaced or fixed due to the claim of damage by the owner which is not covered under the offered warranty resulting in having to end up paying for another chord.

Personally after owning a pair of these headphones for nearly 2 years now I truly believe that with the proper care like I have taken with my headphones, that they are definitely a great investment. I haven't had anything wrong happen with my headphones that I purchased and are still functioning just as well as the first day that I had purchased them.

Overall taking everything into consideration from price and wear and tear and capability I would rate this product a 7.0 out of 10 for the fact that even though they are an excellent pair of headphones, $300 is still a fairly high price to pay for something to listen to music with. Also the fact that the warranty does not completely 100% cover everything that can go wrong with the headphones, nothing wrong can happen with the proper care. Finally the last fact behind the resulting 7.0 out of 10 would be that you continuously have to reload the headphones with 2 AAA batteries, even though the battery life is 30 hours it would be much easier to be able to recharge the headphones or to just be able to plug them into your device without having to continuously reload batteries by purchasing pack after pack just to be able to use the headphones.

Week 3

This picture that was taken of me during my very last basketball provincials that I played in. This picture has a lot of meaning to me as it led up to the end of a long 13 years of playing my most favorite sport and the obstacles I had to overcome as well. Back in August of 2013 I had injured my knee leaving me incapable of putting all of my weight onto my left leg. After countless sessions of physiotherapy and visits to the hospital I was advised to stay away from sports until I healed which tore me apart inside because sports are a very important part of my life as a way of relieving stress and being able to have fun. I ended up making the team in my final year of High School but exerted myself too much and was out of action for almost the whole season. After many months of physio I was told that I would need surgery and that my recovery would take months, which meant I would've missed my entire senior year playing sports and especially being able to play at a competitive level. After my surgery I did everything I was told to do and even did the exercises for my physio to recover longer than advised and came back three times faster than what the surgeon had predicted and was able to compete for the remaining two months of the basketball season which I was capable of helping my teammates win a gold medal, a banner, and second place in provincial qualifiers.



This photo was taken during my High Schools Graduation of my closest friends and I. This photo is important to me because it reminds me that these are the guys who had my back or who I could go to if things weren't going well. We wouldn't always refer to ourselves individually we would always call ourselves "da by's". These guys not only helped me things like schoolwork and having someone to hang out with but also helped me stay on my feet after family matters had occurred and especially after the condition I was in prior to surgery and afterwards as well from making sure I was able to get around or wasn't stuck because I was incapable of doing so. They also showed me what true friendship is and how important it is to have bonds with people you may not know for a long time, but know that you still have somebody you can rely on.

Week 2

"Demons"

When the days are cold

And the cards all fold

And the saints we see

Are all made of gold

When your dreams all fail

And the ones we hail

Are the worst of all

And the blood’s run stale

I wanna hide the truth

I wanna shelter you

But with the beast inside

There’s nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

Don’t get too close

It’s dark inside

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

At the curtain’s call

It's the last of all

When the lights fade out

All the sinners crawl

So they dug your grave

And the masquerade

Will come calling out

At the mess you made

Don't wanna let you down

But I am hell bound

Though this is all for you

Don't wanna hide the truth

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

Don’t get too close

It’s dark inside

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

They say it's what you make

I say it's up to fate

It's woven in my soul

I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright

I wanna save that light

I can't escape this now

Unless you show me how

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

Don’t get too close

It’s dark inside

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

Lyrics from: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/imaginedragons/demons.html

  The song above "Demons" by Imagine Dragons is structured with 13 stanzas where the 5th, 10th and 13th are the refrain where 5-5-6-6-4-4-6-6 meter that includes 8 lines within the stanza. The rhyme scheme for stanza 1, has A-A-B-A and the same goes for stanza 2 and stanza 6. The rhyme scheme changes in stanzas 4, 9 and 12 where the rhyme scheme is A-A-B-B. There is diction within this piece of writing. In stanza 2 when it begins with "When your dreams all fail" the stanza continues on the topic of dreams. There is a debate with the speaker them-self as well in stanza 3 where they speak about wanting to shelter somebody they wish to protect but come back to the realization that it is not possible to hide or to be protected and that it becomes inevitable. There is metonymy as well. In stanza 12 when the writer says "Your eyes, they shine so bright" which generally represents a sense of hopes and dreams within this person whose "eyes shine so bright" 

  The speaker in this song is clearly the artist addressing how he wants to be around somebody specific so much but with all of their past and all the mistakes is afraid to have such a person close to the point that they may hurt them, for example in the refrain where they write "Don't get too close, It's dark inside. It's where my demons hide". The tone in "Demons" would have to be fearful. The speaker is afraid of hurting someone that they love dearly and wish to do no harm upon them. They want to protect this person from all the evil that surrounds them-self (the speaker) but knows the the outcome can not be avoided and that it will not be safe. An example of paradox would be within the refrain where in the beginning they're saying "Look into m eyes" and then follow up with "Don't get too close". They are saying that they want the person in which they're talking to to be close enough to be able to stare into their soul but to not get too close for the evil within in this case are referred to as "demons" .

  Finally, I believe that this song is ultimately about wanting to protect the one you love from the person you are or were. It is clear that this is the case during stanza 8; "Don't wanna let you down, But I am hell bound, Though this is all for you, Don't wanna hide the truth" as well as in the lines of "I need to let you go" and "I can't escape this now". Personally what I can gather from this song is that there will be people that will cross your path and you want to open up to them and let them know about your life, but know that in doing so will result in them running away or not being able to keep the same relationship anymore, that it is important to put up walls about yourself so that you may be able to continue living around the ones you love without living in the fear of being accepted. I enjoy this song for the reason being its message, that in order to protect the ones you love that sometimes the best thing you can do is push them away to not only save yourself but set person as well.

Introduction

  Hi my name is Nick Furlong and welcome to my blog!

  I grew up here in Newfoundland but moved around a lot as a child to places like Mount Pearl, Paradise, Torbay, and finally here in St. John's! The things I enjoy doing the most are hanging out with my friends, going out anywhere from just driving around to just enjoying a nice walk here and there, and I enjoy listening to most music from hip hop/ rap to a bit of country. I'm also a very big fan in sports, I have played Basketball ever since I could walk, even though I'm not the best it is still my favorite sport above all! I also used to play Soccer when I was a kid but those skills disappeared when I had quit at a young age. I picked up Rugby a couple years ago for fun and also volleyball last year with my friends for fun.

 All of my life as far back as I can remember I have always been surrounded by sports, and with playing sports there also comes the injuries. I have been around chiropractors, physiotherapists, etc. Last year I had both torn and flipped my meniscus which landed me in a lot of physio and finally surgery on my knee, along with even more physio. Being around all these appointments over the years and especially my most recent pretty much sparked my interest in pursuing my studies here at Memorial University. What I hope to accomplish is to get a bachelor in Kinesiology (co-op) and continue my studies so that I may pursue a career in Physiotherapy and specialize in sports injuries!

  Other than that, I'm pretty much an easy going guy always calm and relaxed but a bit shy at first. I hope this semester here and all the rest I plan on being in here at MUN go better than expected with all of its twists and turns.