Earth Wallpapers Stats

EarthWallpapers.org was linked up on the Google Maps Mania site and also somewhere on BBC.CO.UK. I can't track absolute paths on my stats so it must have been fleeting as the hits were up and then down the next day. The initial link on Kottke.org was a great start to the site. My only dissapointment has been the dismel Digg activity. I woudl have thought it would get more than 12 diggs. But I guess Digg is more of a tech crowd than designers.

So far the average has been 705 unique visitors a day. Considering people can also access the pictures directly through my Flickr account that's pretty good.

I did a few tweaks to the site today with the latest wallpapers taken the background and after every click it loads int he current wallpaper. I also made the link text in the current location green to make it more obvious you can visit the locations on Google Maps.

I'm blown away by the latest location in New Zealand. This volcano is amazing. Thanks Leanne for suggestion NZ.

The Flash

The Flash, View my Flickr stream here.

I already had a heap of red on Mr Potato Head so I thought I'd make it easy for myself and do another red character. I'm really happy with the gloves.

Dr Spudberg

Dr Spudberg, View my Flickr stream here.

My fav character from Futurama (well maybe Bender is)

This was pretty easy to do. Took about 1.5 hrs and most of that was trying to get the face suckers the right size.

I realise now that Ziogberg wears sandles but for this the blue soes still fit into character.

Mr Bender Head

Mr Bender Head, View my Flickr stream here.

Hey Meat bag!

This one took about 2 hrs. I spent probably half an hour trying to get the right grey for the antena, as the clay takes a while to mix in and then you realise it's too dark.

The Incredible Potato Hulk!

The Incredible Potato Hulk!, View my Flickr stream here.

Hulk is not afraid of masher! Hulk is strongest there is!

The hard was the hardest part on this guy. I ended up ruinign heaps of green clay as the hair couldnt be seperated when I tore him down.

Yoda Potato Head

Yoda Potato Head, View my Flickr stream here.

Mmmmmm potato I am not.

I was sad to rippd this guy down. The head bumps are my fav part.

Shrek Potatohead v2

Shrek Potatohead v2, View my Flickr stream here.

I still love this one. The arms came out pretty good in this.

The hardest part abotu this character is the ears. They wouldn't stay up!

Blue Spud Group

Blue Spud Group, View my Flickr stream here.

Performance art with carbs. I used the same technique in this photo as I did in this montage.

It saved making 3 of the buggers.

Fryday the 13th

Fryday the 13th, View my Flickr stream here.

Jason is a psycho spud out for revenge!

He looks bulked up as the Darth Tater arms already had some clothing on the usually skinny arms.

The eyes look pretty scary in this one.

The mask took the longest time to make. Around 1 hrs just for that.

I used a ball point pen metal end piece to punch the holes in the clay.

The shoes and black hands are curtosy of Darth Tater.

It's more of a butter knife than a machette but it'll do. Notice Darth taters hands? I'm using his Light Sabre as the support for the blade.

Love & Mercy Site

Love & Mercy Site, View my Flickr stream here.

I'm famous!!! Level Two music used 5 of my photos as the backdrop to their new sub labels website. www.loveandmercy.com.au

They asked for 3 and paid me for those and I volunteered two more to make up the sections of the site. It feels great to get paid for a hobby.

The photos they chose were:
flickr.com/photos/mrtruffle/39770717/in/set-874661/
flickr.com/photos/mrtruffle/39770556/in/set-874661/
flickr.com/photos/mrtruffle/169990298/in/set-874661/
flickr.com/photos/mrtruffle/174377705/in/set-874661/
flickr.com/photos/mrtruffle/39770528/in/set-874661/

Happy Birthday Mum

This is the first year in quite a while that I've remembered my mum's birthday on the actual day.

Next year I hope to do this and get a present. One funny note about my mum is that last time I went to visit her I sat down to wacth TV and everything was green. The tube had blown somewhere and all the colours were shades of green.

I asked mum and my little sister. WTF is with the TV? It's all green!

They replied "Is it??.... looks normal to me" I was lost for words. So I switched off Green CSI and waited till the next day when we bought a new TV. I made sure to get a 5 year warrenty as well.

Note: never let your mum but electrical equipment. She will always buy the worst one. It's lucky I was on hand or mum would have walked home with a Beta Max player instead of a TV.

John Long Goes to Shopping Heaven

We shot this as a test on Sunday. Brad edited the video and did the titles. He also stars as Long John. I was the camera monkey. Hopefully we can film a few more experiments now with more people. Above is brads audio at 100% speed. Below is my audio at 165% speed. I prefer my song but that's cause I chose it.

We're planning on hitting Darling Harbour this weekend. After watching the Pharcycle Drop video we're inspired now to really go all out on the next one.

Toboggan Escape

For me the best stuff being done online (ie original, engaging, fun & entertaining) is by ordinary people in their free time. Here is the original application. that this video was inspired by.

Mr Potato Head news!!!

I found this interesting news on this aweosme Mr Potato Head collectors site I just found

Here's some big (speculated) news
The popular toy The Transformers features a character called Optimus Prime. The Transformers slogan is "More than meets the eye"
Well.....Hasbro has filed some very interesting trademarks this week. They have filed trademarks for "Optimash Prime" and "More than meets the fry". The new trademarks lead us to believe Hasbro will be releasing an Optimus Prime version of Mr. Potato Head.
In the text of the trademark application, it claims the trademark is for "toy kits containing a plastic toy figure and detachable plastic body parts for affixing to the toy figure to form various caricatures."

Awesome!!! It makes sense as the movie is goign to be huge in 2007.

Long John Montage

Long John Montage, View my Flickr stream here.

I've always wanted to try one of these montage photos. This turned out pretty good. I need a wider angle lens or an area that doesnt constrict the movement so much.

We also filmed Brad (Mr Long John) in Broadway for another test using video.

Nike: One Time Only

I like the style, the audio and the distribution method for thos Nike promotion. It hits all the nails on the head.

Dead Rising's Questionable Theme Pack

We've started played Dead Rising on the office XBOX360 and it's a pretty cool game. For me I love zombie games but hate managing resources. Luckily Dead Rising is the Zombie game for people who just love to kill stuff. Push a lawnmover into a crowd of zombies and you get the effect you are looking for! None of this evade the zombies until you find a bullet clip with 6 bullets. Just pick up a bunch of CD's from the music store and start throwing!

I checked on Xbox for info on Dead Rising and found you coudl get theme packs. And below was the first of five on offer. Sad to say the least that XBOX are pushing this type opf content. You'd have to be a pretty sad gamer to want that.

Mr Potato Head Shortage

I went to K-Mart and the city toy stores today get buy another plain old Mr Potato Head and could only find the pirate & holloween versions. No plain old Original flavour ones.

I might have to buy from online as the other themed ones have custom items (like dracula teeth, peg legs) and I can't work with them.

Mr Potato Head: The MashUp List

Here is the list as it stands now for future Mr Potato Heads



1: Punk

2: Mr.T (Mr.P)

3: Clockwork Orange (Clockwork Potato)

4: Marv from Sin City (Spud City)

5: Robocop (Robospud)

6: Shrek

7: Yoda

7a. Yoda v2

8: Frankenstein (Frankentater)

9: Rambo

10: Jason (Fryday the 13th)

10a: Jason (Fryday the 13th) v2

11: Bender

12. Hellboy (Spudboy)

13: Dr. Ziodberg (Dr Spudberg)

14. Spiderman (Spuderman)

15. Nacho Libre (Nachooo Potato)

16. Blue man Group (Blue Spud Group)

17. The Tick (The Spud)

18. The Hulk

19. Captain America (Captain Potato Head)

20. Homer (The Spudsoms)

21. Garfield (Garfield the Spud)

22. Taxi Driver (Spud Driver)

23. Yellow M&M (Yellow Potato Head)

24. Luigi (Luigi Potato Head)

25. Mike (Potatoes Inc)

26. Kill Bill (Kill Dill)

27. The Flash

28. Scream Mask

29. The Phantom (The Spud Who Walks)

30. Astro Boy (Astro Spud)

31. Darth Maul

Planned Potatoes:

Wolverine (X-Spud)

Iron Man (Iron Spud)

Optimus Prime (Potatomus Prime)

Terminator (Potatonater)

Marvin from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Captain Jack Sparrow (Capt. Spud Sparrow)

Zombie

Where's Wally/Waldo

Hokuto Shinken (Spud of the North Star)

Totoro

Mario

Sonic

Captain Picard

Klingon

Predator

Ghengis Khan

Hulk Hogan

Inspector Gadget

Borat

Gromit

Sponge Bob (Spud Bob)

Smurf

Mystique (X-Spud)

Tomb Raider (Lara Spud)

Bert & Ernie

Red Imperial Guard

Elmo

Super Dave/Evil Keniville

007

Hannibal Lector



I'm open to suggestions. Hopefully after 50 of these things I'll get bored and start some other project in my spare time.

View the full Flickr gallery here.

The Incredible Spuderman

The Incredible Spuderman, View my Flickr stream here.

His spud sense is tingling!

This one is a fav of mine. It took around 4 and a half hours to complete. Mainly the webbing.

I suaully tear these creations down after completing them, puraly on a cost & logistical reasons.

I don't have any room for 30+ Mr Potato Head's. These are also very fragile, the clay never hardens so a simple knock and they mark. So photos are my only memories.

If anyone would like to buy these off me $20 AUD and it's yours. (Sydney only as these guys wont make it through post office without melting away. That way I pay for the replacement Mr Potato Head.

I have updated THE LIST whichis filling up fast.

Spudboy

Spudboy, View my Flickr stream here.

Here's the latest Mr Potato Head mashup.

It's another red character, as I already had him covered in red clay from Doing Dr Ziogberg and The Flash! This guy turned out really well. The filed horns, right arm and facial hair all turned out pretty good.

Tic Tac People

Ant has started his own little craft hobby with Tic Tac people.

He's also done The Thing, Batman, Phantom and Captain Caveman.

Ski Trip

We just got back form our Soap Ski trip in Thredbo. The top of my head is sunburnt and my knuckles (i didnt wear gloves) are sunburnt too. It hurts to punch people now :)

Earth Wallpapers is going off

In less than a week Ive had my Earthwallpapers.org site stats skyrocket.

Check the Google and Del.icio.us stats. 30,000 results for the site which returned just 1 when I checked on Thursday. And 124 Del.isio.us adds whcih is amazing.

The whote site took about 4 hrs todo and the wallpapers a combined total of about 6. And now it's an easy process to add new wallpapers and keep the content fresh.

The only problem I have no is that the wallpapers are dominating my Flickr accoutn in terms of views with one photo racking up 30,100 views in 4 days.

Kid Robot Auction

Kid Robot are selling a huge array of toys from their latest exhibition. Check out the Ebay auction here. These are all 1 of 1 and make my wallet shudder to think how much money is beign spent on custom toys.

This RotoFugi one is pretty awesome. Your's for just under $500! It is 20 inches though.

There's also this insanly detaile done form Urban Medium.

This one from JUSTIN PITKETHL is probably the uglist!

This one form Zoo York is also nice.

Earth Wallpapers

I've done a quick mini site for the Google Maps wallpapers Called Earthwallpapers.org. Shit name I know but all the ones I thought of were already taken.

Mr Potato Rambo!

Mr Potato Rambo!, View my Flickr stream here.

It isn't his war. He's just in the middle of it.

His arms wouldn't allow him to hold a gun so I made this floppy hunting knife instead.

Borat

I was lucky enough to see a preview screening of Borat last week. It was 95% complete with the extra 5 I'm guessing being some sound editing and the end titles.

If you are fan of Borat on the ALi-G show then you will love this movie. Just when you think Borat wont go there he does and more. It’s one of the most original and funny films you'll see this year while still being able to pack some subliminal messages about racism and society.

Brad was most freaked out by the extreme Christians but I think I was most freaked out by the naked male fighting.

It's due for release in November here in Australia and we are hopefully going to do some work for the films release. Supposedly all ideas need to get the personal approval or Sasha Cohen which is pretty cool. I love it when celebs have to approve stuff. We've had delays while J-Lo approved stuff and now where waiting for Paul Hogan to approve a game we are making. Hurry up Hoags!!!

Mambo Kunst Exhibition

Mambo are runnign an art exhibition with heaps of store art. My fave (without seeing the show yet) is this Endless Board image. The exhibition is at the Monster Children Gallery in Darlinghurt until the 28th of September.

You can find more info on the show here.

Yoda Dog

The next tiem you feel blue have a look at this photo. It'll cheer you up. And if that doesn't work pull out the big guns with this flying dog.

Ahh... much better.

Earth Wallpapers

I've started making wallpapers from Google Map images. As I've already spent the time to make them for myself I thought I might aswell make the other sizes needed.

So until I get the site up EarthWallpapers.org you can grab them all from my Flickr set.

Some are quite practical others just look cool. It's amazing how much fun it is navgiating Google Maps searching for wierd patterns in the landscape. It's actually quite relaxing.

They are available in the following sizes 1920x1200, 1600x1200, 1280x1024, 1152x864 and 1024x768. Anyone on an 800x600 can just go buy a bigger monitor.

Optimus Prime Felt Puppet

Optimus Prime Felt Puppet, View my Flickr stream here.

So fucking cool.

I must do an Optimus Prime Potato Head