Dane Brady #4.

Pizza oven.

I had this board.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, May 2nd. I'm taking a spring break from blog life.

The photos are by Matt Price. I like how Jacob Ovgren's Angry Stoner tag appears in this ad. It was also in the Aaron Herrington ad from earlier this week.

Stair ride: Thrasher - December 2018 Volume 39 Number 12

Wallie: Thrasher - May 2018 Volume 39 Number 5

Shin Sanbongi #3.

Ruins.

Shin's odd griptape job is really only the type of thing you can get away with as a sponsored skater who can change boards more often than us paying customers.

The photograph is by Shinsaku Arakawa.

Thrasher - February 2018 Volume 39 Number 2

Emile Laurent.

Emile is from Portland, Oregon. He started skateboarding when he found a board in the neighbor's trash on the curb. Dane Brady helped get him sponsored by Polar. He likes skating Burnside in addition to lots of other spots. His brother raises and breeds finches for house pets. He's into drawing and Pontus Alv used some of sketches for board graphics, including Dane's first pro model. Emile believes in both aliens and Bigfoot.

The photo is by Marimo Ohyama.

For the info: Thrasher - October 2021 Volume 42 Number 10

Thrasher - August 2018 Volume 39 Number 8

Andrew Wilson #2.

It's rather unique how Polar has evolved from one of the upstart small board brands to a major mens clothier with the popularity of their Big Boy jeans. The jeans are based on the baggy trousers of the early 1990s. Since I participated in that trend the first time around, I'm fine with skipping it on the second go-round. It also goes to show that if you wait long enough, any style will probably pop up again.

I'm not even fully sure what I think of baggy jeans any more. To an extent baggy pants are perfectly fine, but carried to the extremes, they can look sloppy. It makes me appreciate Spike Jonze saying he wouldn't take pictures of skaters wearing Blind or Fuct jeans in 1992 or 1993. I thought that statement seemed odd back then, but now makes more sense given that Spike and the skaters he shot regularly were a little older and not as likely to follow every fashion whim of skateboarding. It's important to be aware of the current trends and then exercise discretion when it comes to jumping on any bandwagons.

Andrew was on Polar for a bit and then bounced for FA/Hockey. I don't know too much about him in all honesty.

Jared Sherbert snapped the photograph.

Thrasher - January 2019 Volume 40 Number 1

Aaron Herrington #4.

Down on the corner.

It's a week of random Polar stuff. I had the boards featured in a couple of the ads so I decided to roll with that. I always take a picture of my new board and then another when it is done.

I rode this board in the summer of 2019. I thought the Rick Howard sticker paired well with the hi-jinx of the graphic.

The art is by Jacob Ovgren.

Thrasher - September 2018 Volume 39 Number 9

Mark Gonzales #27.

Lovelymess.

The Gonz chilling with a pigeon. I dig the ollie photo.

Paint drip: Thrasher - February 2006 Volume 26 Number 2

Ollie: Thrasher - March 2006 Volume 26 Number 3

Mark Gonzales #26.

Bad boys get rad!

Krooked only did four fax style ads before moving on to using the copy machine. They all pair together well from a design perspective. The company started promoting the upcoming Krooked Khronicles, which premiered in May of 2006.

The wallride photo is by Tomonori "Rip" Tanaka.

Wallride: Thrasher - October 2005 Volume 25 Number 10

Sketchbook: Thrasher - January 2006 Volume 26 Number 1