the Four: February '25

some favorites from february

Mar 09, 2025

*sean bernhardt w/the back smith screen grab somewhere in north jersey*

Against all odds and my own expectations, 4ts has actually been publishing, like, stuff, and at a pretty decent clip. So be sure to check out the Tank interview, my Valentine’s Day gift to you, George Phillips on how Four Down of the Year went down, an original edit of an old VICE story about Jaws, and for my beautiful perfect sweet paying subs, my bbs, a new trick tip and some bts stuff straight from my steno book re: Homoki’s huck.

Now then, for the sluts’ consideration …

The Oscars just ran, and bc I’m lucky there were no watch parties or betting pools to struggle through; the only awards I care about — this mag’s included — are SOTY and FOTY, and all else just seems kinda anathema to the whole thing anyway. I watch sports for the winning and losing [editor’s note: mostly losing, you fucking loser] and enjoy art for, like … not that. On the other hand, recognition is appropriate and amazing, so honestly I guess award shows are fine.

But more importantly than bad red carpet cosplay and theater kid energy edging all night, the Oscars are a fabulous rhetorical device to cheat depression and write some shit. So here’s some praise for what the atomization of skate media hath wrought: It’s true and new that clip or Tik can reach more eyes — and be more impactful — than a full length and that parts can drop like singles. And if this meant the full-on death of the Event, maybe I’d be some kind of upset. But look, fucking Define exists, Honeymoon exists, True exists. And in addition to these, we now get a dizzying array of new formats and forms. There are the day-in-the-life types, the bb docs, the big docs, the history lessons, the myths from misty past, the podcasts, the raw tapes, the ancient tapes, the mid-lengths, the born-of beasts; all in all, not a bad deal, I think? Corpses fertilize flowers, after all.

K, on to the February Four. What passes for reason is here; where lamotrigine meets urethane is below.

Four: February ‘25

alexey krasniy, ‘limbo’

Left in the titular state when he was forced from Russia at the outset of war, I kept coming back to one thing watching Krasniy: texture. Most obvious is the literal kind, the tiles and bricks and pavers and smoothness and roughness and just all of that which you usually find in Euro footage; add to that the enthralling song – like Baba Yaga’s foyer waiting for tea — with the warm bloody copper ribcage of guitars and the mournful scratch of catgut; add to that the far-reaching blend from fast drama to inherently fun to ‘violations’ — as if that could mean something to a person who fled their home — and the entire thing becomes feel-able.

jonathan yanez/tony willie, ‘cruel kindness 2’

This thing is just fucking dirty, bb. The spots, the shots, the tricks, the style — all of it. Dope. 5 out of 5 cubes gleamed.

vague/blast, lucas amadour ‘pma 2’

How you feel about the very first trick — with its surprise speed check — will maybe go a long way with this one. Amadour’s newly got his name on a deck and flits between tricks even the gatekeeping bois would love, like a long-as-fuck front noseblunt, and the kind of freely fun-courting stuff Blast skates is associated with. Extra points for having more melons than a cheap continental.

stussy, ‘pool service’

Variety is important to me in these, and so to see legacy streetwear turn back the clock a bit was catnip. A full pool edit may not be for you, but a reminder of the roots is always valuable, especially as we’re getting unmoored. God it makes me want to die in the deep end.