A S H Smyth

Category Archives: column

Strength and honour

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

A love letter to 20 years of watching Gladiator. — For The Critic

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Academy Awards, Alain de Botton, army, Classics, Cleopatra, Commodus, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, drink, Edward Gibbon, Facebook, film, Germans, Hans Zimmer, Harry Sidebottom, history, Holst, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Kent, Loeb Classical Library, love, Marcus Aurelius, Moravia, Morocco, music, Nick Cave, Odeon, Oxford, painting, religion, Rich Hardcastle, Ridley Scott, Rome, Royal Albert Hall, Russell Crowe, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Suffolk, Surrey, tattoos, The Critic, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, war, YouTube | Comments (0)

David Walliams does Roald Dahl, AA Gill does Mary Beard, and I do children’s literature, Little Britain, Donald Sturrock, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Sunday Times, Romans, the Daily Mail, Cicero, Bettany Hughes, Time Team, the Cambridge Latin Course, constipation, movie posters, The Ides of March, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The English Patient, […]

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged AA Gill, art, Bettany Hughes, Cicero, constipation, David Walliams, Donald Sturrock, Edward Albee, Eugene O'Neill, film, history, Kenneth Branagh, Latin, Mary Beard, Max Brod, posters, radio, Roald Dahl, Romans, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times, theartsdesk, TV | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.12

Saturday, April 21, 2012

A trenchant critique of all things Israel-Palestine – starring Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Helena Bonham Carter – Ricky Gervais, retardations, Karl Pilkington, Channel 4, nurses, Gladiator, Star Wars, Leon, Madame Tussauds, Marvel, Shrek, Hamlet, Tom Phillips (RA), Lord of the Rings, Orhan Pamuk, museums, cabinets of curiosity, Istanbul, A Serbian Film, Daniel […]

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Daniel Craig, film, Helena Bonham Carter, Israel, Karl Pilkington, Madame Tussauds, museums, nurses, Orhan Pamuk, Palestine, Ricky Gervais, Serbia, Shimon Peres, theartsdesk, Tom Phillips (RA), Turkey, TV, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.11

Saturday, April 14, 2012

An Easter holiday special, in which we take in Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Ancient Egypt, the Grand Tour, stuffed birds, Congolese objets d’art, camera-less photography, amateur collectors, wunderkammern/cabinets of curiosity, Bruce Chatwin, Nicky Hirst, madeleine moments, Broomhill Sculpture Park, sculpture in general, Ronald A. Westerhuis, Carol Peace, Jake Rusby, Mike Roles, Dartington Crystal, Swedes, […]

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Ancient Egypt, art, birds, books, Britain's Got Talent, Broomhill Sculpture Park, Bruce Chatwin, Carol Peace, Dartington Crystal, Exeter, Gnome Reserve, Greil Marcus, Jake Rusby, jazz, Jenny Diski, madeleine moments, Mike Roles, music, Nicky Hirst, photography, Poetry, Ronald A. Westerhuis, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, sculpture, Swedes, the Congo, The Doors, theartsdesk, travel, TV, Twitter | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.10

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Featuring news and views on the espionage du jour, Peter Taylor, Homeland, Spooks, Rubicon, Tinker Tailor…, Ben Macintyre, Americans, Russians, the Chinese, Rwandans, Charlie Dutton Gallery, TASCHEN, FUSE magazine, typographics, computers, Garamond, rubber bands, Marshal McLuhan, Akira The Don, Pink Floyd, ABBA, YouTube, and lollies. — For theartsdesk

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged ABBA, Akira The Don, Americans, art, Ben Macintyre, books, Charlie Dutton Gallery, Chinese, computers, FUSE, Garamond, graphic design, Homeland, lollies, Marshal McLuhan, music, Peter Taylor, Pink Floyd, rubber bands, Rubicon, Russians, Rwandans, spies, Spooks, TASCHEN, theartsdesk, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, TV, YouTube | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.9

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Read, watch and listen: climate-change, Maldivian politics, Jon Shenk, Mohammed Nasheed, Radiohead, Start the Week, Anne McElvoy, Geoff Dyer, Paul Farley, Andrei Tarkovsky, Tristram Shandy, Werner Herzog, Liz Mermin, large hadron colliders, Scott Waugh, Mouse McCoy, Act of Valor, Navy Seals, John McCain, Facebook, blockbusters, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, pianos, Clementi, Mozart, Telemann, and […]

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Americans, Andrei Tarkovsky, Anne McElvoy, Aung San Suu Kyi, blockbusters, Burma, Clementi, climate-change, Facebook, film, Foreign Affairs, Geoff Dyer, John McCain, Jon Shenk, large hadron collider, Liz Mermin, Mohammed Nasheed, Mouse McCoy, Mozart, Navy Seals, Paul Farley, piano, politics, radio, Radiohead, Scott Waugh, Start the Week, Telemann, The Independent, the Maldives, theartsdesk, Tristram Shandy, Werner Herzog | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.8

Saturday, March 24, 2012

This week starring Stanley Donwood, Radiohead, Vincent Van Gogh, The Wind-Up Merchant, Ric Jerrom, Oscar Wilde, Tony Hawks, Ireland, fridges, Guinness, extras, Tom Crean, Antarctic exploration, Felicity Aston, product placement, Land Rovers, Mark Ronson, Newsnight, the Olympics, Michaelangelo, and an infantile joke about muff-diving. — For theartsdesk

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged extras, Felicity Aston, fridges, Guinness, Ireland, Land Rover, Mark Ronson, Michaelangelo, Newsnight, Olympics, Oscar Wilde, Radiohead, Ric Jerrom, Stanley Donwood, the Antarctic, The Wind-Up Merchant, theartsdesk, Tom Crean, Tony Hawks, Vincent Van Gogh | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.7

Saturday, March 17, 2012

From the arts desk at the end of the universe, reflections on Douglas Adams, Erwin Schrödinger, Joseph Kony, YouTube, Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry, Bilbo Baggins, Saul Zaentz, trademark and copyright law, Lewis Hyde, Amy Winehouse, Florence Welch, Queens of the Stone Age, MUSE, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, and the many and various meanings of Liff. […]

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Africa, Amy Winehouse, Bilbo Baggins, comedy, Douglas Adams, Erwin Schrödinger, film, Florence Welch, Ian McKellen, Joseph Kony, law, Lewis Hyde, literature, MUSE, music, Pierce Brosnan, Queens of the Stone Age, Saul Zaentz, Spotify, Stellan Skarsgård, Stephen Fry, theartsdesk, YouTube | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.6

Saturday, March 10, 2012

This week delving into the mysteries of Blood Cars, the Olympics, the (very) near future, the poppiest of pop literature, Antarctic exploration, organ donation – of both the voluntary and involuntary sort – and questionable legal defences in late-C.20th Caribbean culture. — For theartsdesk

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Captain Scott, comedy, dolphins, film, Hugh Bonneville, Jim O'Loughlin, Marc Haynes, McSweeney's, music, Olympics, radio, sex, theartsdesk, Vaughan Williams | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.5

Saturday, March 3, 2012

In which we hear more about Klinghoffer, camp terrorism, vultures, fake boobs, Cape Town, Debussy, The West Wing, and the aftermath of sex with Willie Nelson. — For theartsdesk

Also filed in Journalism | Tagged Alan Rickman, Cantona, Debussy, Denzel Washington, ENO, film, hairdressers, Israel, John Adams, Maeterlinck, Mallarmé, opera, Palestine, Ricardo Darin, Ryan Reynolds, South Africa, theatre, TV, Vincent Cassel, Willie Nelson, Zach Braff | Comments (0)

Category Archives: column

Strength and honour

theASHtray, vol.13

theASHtray, vol.12

theASHtray, vol.11

theASHtray, vol.10

theASHtray, vol.9

theASHtray, vol.8

theASHtray, vol.7

theASHtray, vol.6

theASHtray, vol.5

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