Ben Kadow #3.

Flambé.

Ben burns a lipslide across a tall and difficult handrail in NYC. I'm a fan of what Ben does and the assorted articles he has written for Thrasher. I like that he's into weird hardcore and noise bands, as well as being a chef. It's things like this that make a skater interesting instead of simply being good at skateboarding as their main selling point.

I got to skateboard in the driveway for a second day in a row yesterday. It was still 20˚ F at best so I wasn't out there for long. I did a couple frontside 50-50s, tailslides, and ollies off the jump ramp before calling it a day. These little bits of skateboarding feel nice and it's good to be outside for something other than shoveling snow.

Thrasher - February 2025 Volume 46 Number 2

Rob Welsh & Cody Chapman.

Thee good ole' days.

I don't even know why I picked this one. I guess I thought it was funny. It doesn't exactly fit into a review of 2025. I definitely dragged the look back at last year on for a week longer than I should have. Even as this thing limps along to the 18 year mark, I'm still learning how to pace and edit the copy, which I suppose is a good thing. Unless it is a specific video recap that warrants longer, two weeks is the max for any one topic.

One bit of relevancy to this Lakai ad would be that Cody joined up with the Anti-Hero crew in 2025 after UMA Landsleds came to an end. I think Evan Wasser or somebody else had a photo doing the exact same trick at the exact same spot. I remember flipping by it, but didn't take the time to mark down who it was.

I skateboarded in the driveway after work on Wednesday. It was 20˚ F at best. The driveway had only a few small damp spots and ice chunks so I had more room to roll in than on Monday. I managed enough tricks to make it count before my trucks froze due to the cold.

The photos are by Andrew "Ando" Caulfield.

Thrasher - July 2020 Volume 41 Number 7

Sam Narvaez.

Cracklin' Rosie.

Sam turned pro for Krooked in 2025. She also rides for Adidas and HUF. In the tradition of Dan Drehobl, her part used a Neil Diamond song to accompany the assorted krooked grinds, manuals, and bank tricks. I think the video was mostly filmed in Cuba, which provides a colorful background for her skating.

Thrasher - September 2025 Volume 46 Number 9

Breana Geering #4.

PUNX ROCK.

Breezy had a few sick photos for ads and a quick part in Splinter, Girl's video from the summer of 2025. She also had a gest part for Krooked with Una Farrar in 2024, too.

I shoveled out the driveway on Sunday and was able to skateboard after work on Monday. I had to deal with some big wet spots. I fit in a bunch of noseslides and boardslides before I got cold. Things felt good and wish I had more time.

Thrasher - March 2025 Volume 46 Number 3

Deandre "Lil Dre" Thebpanya.

Lil fluffy clouds.

Lil Dre is from San Francisco, California. He rode for Karl Watson's Maxallure until that company floated off into the ether. Girl Skateboards recently added him to the pro team. His other sponsors include Adidas, Venture, and Spitfire. Dre can fakie front crook anything and has great skill in doing flip tricks. He's really good and brings an element of style back to Girl that has been somewhat lacking in recent years.

Thrasher - April 2021 Volume 42 Number 4

Tom Schaar #2.

Zombie.

A young Tom catches a stalefish in a pool. He would have been on Element back in 2012. These days he's riding for Birdhouse Projects and New Balance. Tom used his vert skills in the recent Thrasher bowl contest at Supreme in LA. He was blasting some big airs and getting tricks on a very tall makeshift Supreme extension. It was cool to see Hugo Boserup tearing up the bowl to win the contest, too.

Try to stay warm out there. Spring has to get here sooner or later. I'm almost mildly optimistic about getting to an indoor park to skateboard this weekend. Our usual winter cycle is snow a couple days, dig out, warm up, dry up, and then snow again. You can fit in some skating at the end of that cycle, but we haven't had a break from the snow and it sure hasn't warmed up.

The photo is by Mike Blabac.

Transworld - December 2012 Volume 30 Number 12

Chris Joslin #2.

Champion Matador.

Now that the dust and hot takes have settled, we can evaluate Chris winning Thrasher's SOTY for 2025. I feel he picked up the honor for a career body of work, along the lines of when Anthony Van Engelen won. Add into that one amazing 360 flip with a great backstory and it's a done deal. That said, he's still an oddly surprising choice. I had the frontrunners as Antonio Durao, Greyson Fletcher, TJ Rogers, and Tom Schaar so Joslin wasn't on my short list. I figured Tom would win because of two ridiculous vert parts and knowing that Michael Burnett has a soft spot for the tamers of giant halfpipes.

Joslin has been out there hucking flip tricks down massive stairs and gaps for over a decade now in the skateboarding spotlight. He isn't somebody I keep up with. I'll watch a video part here or a contest run there and that's about the extent of it. He's great at what he does, it's not the type of skateboarding I'm into. And that's fine.

I remember when he turned pro and how popular he was with certain skaters. Joslin was also on nearly every other page of the mags back in the middle 2010s. His part in Album, the Etnies video from 2018, is a tour de force of big gaps, ledges, and handrails. He even does a couple of no-complies and 43s in the section.

I am curious about how Plan B is doing these days. I can't imagine they have the draw they once had. I think they probably do have a fan base that keeps buying the boards. I live in a poor area to do market research on what is popular, but I've seen more Hardbody decks than Plan B for whatever that is worth. I'm also curious what the average skater thinks of the new version of Lakai. My guess would be they are oblivious to all the behind the scenes ownership changes that cost the brand most of its supporters. I'm just wondering aloud about all these things since we don't have Transworld Business publishing the numbers like we used to back in the day.

The photo is by Sam McGuire.

Thrasher - August 2017 Volume 38 Number 8

TJ Rogers.

Survivor.

TJ had a productive 2025 with several video parts of gnarly street tech and a pro shoe on éS. He's from Whitby, Ontario. Bill Weiss hooked a fellow Canadian up with a sponsorship from Blind in the early 2010s. When Dwindle came to an unsightly end in 2022, TJ found a home at SK8MAFIA. He's elevated ledge tech to new heights and distances while also still jumping down big stairs as he gets older.

Thrasher - September 2025 Volume 46 Number 9

Bobby de Keyzer #2.

Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Bobby filmed an entire video part at the plaza next to the CBC's office building in downtown Toronto. He spent the fall of 2024 with videographer Tomas Morrison going back to the plaza enough times until he was probably sick of the place. I believe he said it wasn't really one of his favorite spots and wanted to see what he could do there over time. BOBCBC is an arty middle ground between a traditional video part and a raw files dump. You get to see the process Bobby uses for landing tricks and putting together lines, along with all the frustration that goes into said process. Barret Avner's experimental score keeps the video moving along. It's a good soundtrack to break up the repetition of the tricks and broken boards. I like how they included bits of weather data throughout the project. I listen to the CBC radio station that Bobby is skating in front of so there's some kind of odd connection for me to the part.

The sequence was documented by Mike Blabac.

Transworld - January 2015 Volume 33 Number 1

Tristan Funkhouser #2.

"You go disco and I'll go Funkadelic, man."

DC dropped two new ams on us in 2015 with four pages of ads in Transworld. The new riders were Tristan and Bobby de Keyzer. Both would go on to become pro and are very much relevant to skateboarding right now so that was some good talent scouting at DC. T-Funk has been wrecking both spots and himself the last few years. He still rides for Baker and I think he might be on Vans.

It was cold and snowed this weekend so there was no skateboarding again. I've been trying to watch some old videos on DVD and I gave Grey Area's Neverwhere from 2018 a fresh viewing. The whole video is really good with Michal Juraś having an outstanding closing part. Neverwhere opens with a skater ollieing up onto a car and slamming. The video ends with him making the ride over the car after the credits. I'd never noticed that bit of symmetry before. Try to stay warm out there.

The photo is by Mike Blabac.

Transworld - January 2015 Volume 33 Number 1

Antonio Durao #4.

Interlude.

A young Antonio does one of his patented switch 360 flips down a six block in San Jose. He had a few interesting video parts for Hardbody and Spitfire in 2025 that put him in the mix as a legitimate contender for SOTY. I bet Girl thought they had the next Gino Iannucci when they added Antonio to the team. I'm still not really sure what I think of Hardbody, but I dig how grainy and ambiguous all their videos and ads are. It was cool to see some new footage from Hjalte Halberg to close out the year.

It's been cold here all week and is looking to be cold here all next week. The odds of getting skateboarding any time soon aren't looking so hot. It is January so this tracks.

Sam Muller was the photographer.

Transworld - August 2015 Volume 33 Number 8

Nathan Midgette.

Bones Brigade.

Skeleton Key is Darren Navarrette's company. He started it more than a few years back to make copers, t-shirts, and other assorted vert related trinkets. Darren has expanded the manufacturing to include boards. Nathan, Alex Hajimihalis, and Josh Rodriguez comprise the pro team. Nate is the son of Schmitt Stix pro Allen Midgette. He drew the graphics for his board, but it looks kind of like something his dad would've created. I'm stoked on seeing their ads in Thrasher every month. It's a nice throwback to the 1980s vert days while adding a contemporary touch.

The photo is by J. Grant Brittain.

Thrasher - September 2025 Volume 46 Number 9

Cruise Mosberg.

Power Play.

Cruise is the son of Jamie "Mouse" Mosberg. Jamie is a photographer and videographer who worked for Life's A Beach/B.B.C. back in the 1980s. He also filmed some little video for Birdhouse called The End. Cruise had a good Thrasher interview. He talked about his dad's career and mentioned the Life's A Beach video called Skaters From Uranus. In spite of the name, it's a solid flick that showcased a whole lot of skaters, including Jeff Phillips, Bill Danforth, Ron Allen, Bryan Pennington, and many more. It was the second or third video I ever saw. My friends had it and we watched it all the time since viewing options were limited back then. Cruise's interview was an unexpected bit of feel good nostalgia.

It's funny because when there are two of something, one will inevitably be good and the other will be bad. Hockey feels exciting and looks interesting while FA feels and looks tired. I think Hockey has the better art direction and overall aesthetic. Although Sage Elsesser's recent interview with Slam City was a good read so maybe I'm being needlessly nitpicky. It's probably that.

The photo is by Kris Burkhardt.

Thrasher - July 2025 Volume 46 Number 7

Nelly Morville #2.

Professional Limo Driver.

One of the highlights in 2025 was Nelly being awarded a pro model from Limosine. She also had a signature wheel from Spitfire. Her short iPhone filmed videos of skateboarding and the assorted antics that go with it are worthy watches on YouTube.

Thrasher - April 2025 Volume 46 Number 4

Zion Wright #2.

Jupiter's Finest.

Zion had a ripping 2025. I like how he can skate handrails along with being able to do inverts and 540s in bowls. I'm not so sure about his golf fascination, but whatever. His backside 180s ollies on street more than make up for the baggage fee to fly golf clubs to Greece.

Back to the grind. I wound up scanning more stuff than I initially planned on for the review of 2025. I guess that's good. I tried to pick out older stuff for the stars of the last year and found a few things. The early to mid 2010s are starting to look more interesting by virtue of the passing of time.

There's a mistake regarding the flame head logo in Thrasher's Spitfire wheels article from the December 2025 issue. The article states that the first appearance of the flame head was in December 1993. Kevin Ancell's creation actually debuted in May of 1992 in a somewhat drab grey ad. I have no idea how to let them know about the error and don't really feel like trying so I'm posting the correction on here.

I've gotten to skateboard three times this year. We've had winter. It hasn't been too bad in terms of snow and cold. There's been a couple warm days, but it rained by the time I was finished with work. The sunsets are getting later at the least. This week unfortunately looks to be bitterly cold. I'm glad I got to skate in the driveway for a while on Sunday afternoon. Even though it was on the chilly side, there was plenty of bright sun so it was fine.

Thrasher - June 2025 Volume 46 Number 6