h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The real life Galatea - Amy Winehouse - A20252189
Author: AgProv - U538194

I suspect this is not quite ready for PR yet.

Opinions, anybody?

(What do the T-shirts look like and are they available in XXL?)

I'd like to be of help, but I've never heard of her before, so don't know anything. I'm not too sure about what you say about Jewish-Cockney etc - aren't you afraid of treading on many people's toes?

I wasn't thinking of it in those terms, although I hear wehat you say!

It's just that so many people - I quote a recent reviewer in the Manchester Evening News, (who should know better) who seem to think she puts her accent on as an affectation and a pretentiousness.

However hard on the ear it might be, it's definitely and clearly her own, and not something put on.... (I remember back twenty years to when people who were not au fait with Geordie accents accused Sting of being pretentious by adopting a Jamaican accent that was clearly not suited to somebody of his ethnicity. Idiots, it was his own Geordie accent, so they were wrong twice over...)

I have no worse an authority than Rabbi Lionel Blue for the existance of the "cockney Jewish" accent: he maintains his parents and extended family were talking in exactly the same accent and tones used by Amy Winehouse (he demonstrated this on the radio)over fifty years ago; their parents, said the good Rabbi, were still speaking Yiddish and shtetl-Russian in the home.

As Amy is the daughter of a London Jewish taxi driver, these facts explain many things.

And I hope the stress on her ethnicity isn't considered to be anti-Semitic, it isn't: not to mention it would be like denying that Mel Gibson gets some of his performance energy and interests from being of Irish Catholic background. (I mean, look at the equally gutsy stuff Helen Shapiro did in a previous generation: did that come out of being femal and Jewish? At least Amy's singing and presentation are a bit less "schmaltzy" than Barbra Streisand, and I promise you that isd the first and last time I draw THAT comparison!

And for those who missed NMTB, the interplay between a half-pi$$ed Winehouse and a wickedly funny Amstell was a total delight - it would be churlish to ignore this.

Regards

AP

Well, if what you say about her dialect is common agreement, it's fine by me. As I said, I don't know anything about her. Do you intend to give some more information about the person Amy Whinehouse? All I know after having read your entry is, that she was fat, lost weight, is thin, but you think her body is gorgeous; she has ugly tattoos and a horrid speaking voice. I'd say that is maybe a bit thin.

Is she anorexic and practising self-harm by any chance - I've always found her lovely, but recent photographs are a cause for concern.

She was on NMTB a few years ago and did apparently sing in a tribute band to Salt n Peppa, called Sweet n Sour I think.

While the things you have said in the entry may well be true, I think perhaps you should consider voicing them rather more delicately.

with this.

The t-shirts are bright blue with a white h2g2 emblem on the front. I think they come in XL, mine's a L and it fits over my beer belly quite adequately.

Nice start Ag, if you're game once you've cleared up the points I'd chuck it into PR and see what they say there

'As she stands, Amy Winehouse as a story is pure Pygmalion.'
This, for me, is what's wrong with the entry. There is no story.

It needs biography, possibly discography (although the latter could tie you to future updating). You've made a throwaway remark about her various problems, could this have been explained more for those people who are not aware of her?
Remember, H2G2 has researchers all over the world, many will not know who Amy Winehouse is.

It has all the makings of a good entry, but just needs that 'fleshing up' to make it through to the edited guide. Good start though, and unusual to get the chance to make a comment before the PR duck shoot starts.

Good luck with it

I really like this. It's personal, and it's not written in the standard format.

Maybe a brief para on her life-story, and mention a couple of your favourite recordings, and I think it's ready for PR.

Or, you could just submit it anyway and see what they suggest.

Icy

Are you still working on this, Ag?

hi Alex

Sorry it took so long to notice this - the (other) BBC boards where I spend my time have been getting quite boring and constrained as of late so I took a sabattical and went ewlsewhere fo a while.

Nope, this one was commenced bfore poor Amy's life took the VERY big slump that it did, and it's been somewhat overtaken by events. Like her voice and music though I do, carrying on with this entry would be as depressing as chronicling a train crash.

So if you want to pick it up and carry on with it (just give me a namecheck for earlier work) then aas far as I'm concerned it's all yours.

Cheers m'dear!

Sorry if my previous post was confusing - I've been going through the Edited Guide Writing Workshop and reviewing every entry with the intention of getting things moving a bit.

If you don't want to work on this any more, you might consider moving it to the Flea Market so that someone with an interest can pick it up.

AgProv2 has ed. I thought that this entry is very much opinion piece and so borderline Back to Entry, especially in view of her death.

However, considering others felt that this was ready for Peer Review, I'd like to propose Flea Market.

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will do - remind me that there are a few more Entries to remove/move on Tuesday or later BB please


Lanzababy

This is your Tuesday wake-up call...

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perfectly happy for this to go to Flea market so somebody else can pick it up... following through her train-wreck of a life was getting depressing, it was like watching a catastrophe happen that was impossible to prevent, and when this great talent died the way she did.... sensed there was a lovely, vivacious, girl there who'd taken a seriously wrong turning. it just leaves me with a residual feeling of "ugggh"... sorry to take so long picking this up, I had personal issues to work out and realised I'd be better off staying away for a while!

It's good to see you back!
If you're back now, feel free to withdraw your articles from the Flea Market and finish off writing about them yourself.

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