Saturday, September 17, 2011

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah - Today's History .... Jimi Hendrix

1970

Guitarist Jimi Hendrix dies at the age of 28, following a drug overdose in London.

Hendrix was born in Seattle in 1942. He grew up playing guitar, imitating blues greats like Muddy Waters as well as early rockers. He joined the army in 1959 and became a paratrooper but was honorably discharged in 1961 after an injury that exempted him from duty in Vietnam. In the early 1960s, Hendrix backed such musicians as Little Richard, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, and Sam Cooke. He moved to New York in 1964, where he played in coffeehouses.

It was at one of these coffeehouse gigs that British bassist Bryan Chandler of the Animals first heard Hendrix play. Chandler arranged to manage Hendrix and brought him to London in 1966, where they created the Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. The band's first single, "Hey Joe," hit No. 6 on the British pop charts, and the band became an instant sensation.

In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience made its first U.S. appearance, at the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix made a splash by burning his guitar. In the next two years, the band released classic songs like "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," and "The Wind Cries Mary." The band's albums included Are You Experienced? (1967), Bold as Love(1969), and Electric Ladyland (1969).

After the band dissolved in 1969 over creative tensions, Hendrix made his famous appearance at Woodstock, playing a masterful, intricate version of "The Star Spangled Banner." Later that year, he put together a new group called the Band of Gypsies, which debuted on New Year's Eve, 1969. The band released only one album, Band of Gypsies (1969). (A second album, Band of Gypsies II, was released in 1986.) Hendrix then recorded another album, without the band, called The Cry of Love, which was released in 1971. Jimi Hendrix played his last concert in August 1970, at the Isle of Wight Festival in Britain.
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Bio

James Marshall Hendrix
November 27th, 1942 - September 18, 1970

Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Because he was unable to read or write music, it is nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music took place in just four short years. His musical language continues to influence a host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang.
Jimi Hendrix, born Johnny Allen Hendrix at 10:15 a.m. on November 27, 1942, at Seattle's King County Hospital, was later renamed James Marshall by his father, James "Al" Hendrix. Young Jimmy (as he was referred to at the time) took an interest in music, drawing influence from virtually every major artist at the time, including B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Holly, and Robert Johnson. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he heard.
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Guild Wars 2 - Edge Of Destiny's novel

Don’t move!”
The huge wolf snapped his head upright, eyes blazing.
“Stay exactly like that.”
No one else in the world could order Garm to sit still. 
He was, after all, a dire wolf—fi ve feet tall at the shoulder and twenty stone, with jet-black hackles and fire-red eyes. He was made to lope and chase and drag down. Not to sit still. Not to listen. But he did.
For Eir Stegalkin, he did.
Garm flicked a glance toward the norn warrior. She was tall, too, her hand rising to the rafters twelve feet 
up and snagging a mallet that hung there and bringing the thing down in her brawny grip. Her eyes darted 
toward Garm, who glanced forward again and tried to look fierce.
It wasn’t that he feared this woman and her big hammer, which she swung just then with terrific force, pounding a massive chisel and striking a wedge of granite from a huge block. Garm hazarded a look at that 
block, amorphous and pitted from chisel strokes. Soon, it would be a statue. A statue of him. But that wasn’t why he sat still.
He sat still because she was the alpha.
The mallet fell again, the chisel bit, the block calved. More chunks of stone crashed to the floor, first in wedges and then shards and chips and finally a shower of grit.
Garm’s figure was taking shape.

These were some of first chapter in second novel of Guild Wars series written by J. Robert King.  Taking place two hundred and fifty years after the events in Guild Wars: Prophecies, Edge of Destiny continues to chronicle the events of the original Guild Wars and weaves the legends of the past into the legends that will be made in the upcoming Guild Wars 2. 


Intro taken from Guild Wars 2's website

The Elder Dragons have risen from their millennial slumber, spreading corruption and devastation everywhere. Now the mortal races of Tyria stand on the edge of destiny. Heroes have battled against the minions of the dragons, only to be corrupted by the enemy. Great armies have marched against the dragons, only to be swept away like leaves in a gale. The dwarves sacrificed everything to defeat a single dragon champion. The age of mortals may soon be over.
This is a time for heroes. While the great races stand divided, six heroic individuals will unite to defend Tyria: Eir, the norn huntress with the soul of an artist; Snaff, the asura genius, and his ambitious assistant Zojja; Rytlock, the ferocious charr warrior in exile; Caithe, a deadly sylvari with deep secrets; and Logan, a valiant human with divided loyalties. Together they answer the call. Together they become Destiny's Edge. But will it be enough?

Monday, September 5, 2011

Guild Wars 2 - MMORPG of the age!

Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars. The game takes place in a persistent world with a story that progresses in instanced environments.

Guild Wars 2 claims to be unique in the genre by featuring a storyline that is responsive to player actions, something which is common in single player role-playing games but rarely (if ever) seen in multiplayer ones. A dynamic event system replaces traditional questing, utilising the ripple effect to allow players to approach quests in different ways as part of a persistent world. Also of note is the combat system, which aims to be more dynamic than its predecessor by promoting synergy between professions and using the environment as a weapon as well as reducing the complexity of the Magic-style skill system of the original game. As a sequel to Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will feature the same lack of subscription fees that distinguished its predecessor from other commercially developed online games of the time.