The REAL. BIG. Blog

Fathead and sister company Quicken Loans are elated to be celebrating and supporting Motown’s accomplishments over the past 50 years. This weekend as Berry Gordy and the rest of the Motown family return to the Motown’s birthplace of Detroit for two nights of parties celebrating the legendary record company’s 50th anniversary to benefit the Motown Historical Museum. Fathead has gone BIG for the weekend’s events and has produced the classic images of the many talented groups and individuals that captured our hearts and ears for years for fans to adorn and take pictures with while attending the events. The celebration takes place tonight at the Roostertail nightclub on the Detroit River — the scene of many a Motown performance and party during the 1960s and early ’70s — for a private alumni reception.

On Saturday, the museum hosts a Motown 50 Golden Gala fundraiser, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Kid Rock are slated to perform for an expected crowd of 500 at the ballroom in the GM Renaissance Center’s Marriott hotel. Comedian Sinbad hosts, with special honors given to early Motowners Smokey Robinson, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Janie Bradford and Raynoma Singleton.

The Partnership: Barrett-Jackson is to the world of collector cars what Fathead is to wall graphics – simply the best. To kick off the Barrett-Jackson Fathead partnership the folks at Barrett-Jackson picked out 12 spectacular automobiles for us to transform into giant 6 foot by 4  foot Fathead Murals. You can check them out here. The photography is exquisite. The effect in a room is, quite honestly, stunning.

Fathead Worthy Stuff: Fathead built the business on sports and particularly the greatest professional athletes captured in moments of extraordinary performance. It’s what we call “Fathead worthy”. When you see these cars you’ll understand why they compare to those athletes – and maybe it’s the other way around. It’s about the muscle, the quality, the beauty, the rarity.

About Barrett Jackson: Barrett-Jackson produces “The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions”. They are held in Scottsdale, Arizona; Palm Beach, Florida;  Las Vegas, Nevada; and Orange County, California. Established in 1971 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Barrett-Jackson specializes in providing products and services to classic and collector car owners, astute collectors and automotive enthusiasts around the world.

Dream Cars: Fathead operates out of metro Detroit so you know cars are in our blood here. Since we started our partnership with Barrett-Jackson and we first saw these photos we’ve all been talking about the cars we have, had or wish we had. We’ve got a couple of guys who write code by day and do some amazing car stuff at night and on the weekends. When I first met my wife she was driving a ‘67 Mustang – what a classic. She and her brother share great stories about all the work they did on his ’68 Camaro. Tell us your favorite classic car story or which car you would want to own if you could have any car in the world.

In my family, Central Michigan alumni run rampant. My parents, sister and uncle are all CMU grads and proudly support the Chippewas every football season. This is rarely a problem between me and my boyfriend, a MSU Spartan named Howie.

He is an AVID (putting it lightly) MSU fan and alum and is constantly talking “smack” about how MSU has a premier football program. Michigan State has had Top 25 seasons consistently throughout the last 10 years. CMU has been decent the last 4 or so (but the love runs deep J). Central doesn’t have the quantity of a student section that Spartan Stadium boasts, but the pride and quality is the same.

So being the wonderful Fathead employee that I am, I purchased a Spartan Helmet for Howie, in hopes of revitalizing the basement as well as making him happy on gameday. And being that Central is a small school and there wasn’t a Fathead for them yet I felt this was an appropriate alternative.

To continue the saga, the mighty CMU Chippewas visited Spartan Stadium to take on the Spartans this year. I was optimistic at best. Sure we were the underdogs, but in that stadium, with that student section, and that history, did we really stand a chance? Howie and I decided to make the 60 mile trek west to find out for ourselves.

Long story short…CMU was victorious (I’m still gloating) and I’m now awaiting the delivery of my own Central Michigan University Fathead. I think I’ll put it above the MSU one to show superiority…what do you think??

Congratulations to the New York Yankees on winning their 27th World Series title. The exhausting MLB season has finally come to a close, along with the best time of the year for sports…

October and November are some of the most exciting months for sports fans. It is the only time of the year that all 4 major sports are on at the same time.

The MLB Playoffs are nearing the end, where every pitch, every catch and every move matters. This year in the playoff you had two of the more storied franchises in all of sports with the Yankees and Dodgers. Let’s not forget the Red Sox and Cardinals who have both won a World Series title in the past 3 years. And then there are the two most consistent teams in baseball: the Twins and Angels. Year after year, those two teams always seem to be near, or at the top of their respected divisions. After starting 19-28 and firing their head coach, the Rockies came back and made another impressive run to the postseason.

The NFL is in full swing with intriguing story lines, bone-crushing hits and highlight reel plays. There are always surprises with the NFL. Who would have thought that at age 40, Brett Favre would be playing as well as he is… who would have thought that in week 9 we would still have two undefeated teams (Indianapolis and New Orleans both 7-0)… Who would have thought that the Wildcat would make defensive coordinators cringe… From the Ram’s, Lion’s and Buccaneers to the Saints, Colts and Vikings, Sunday’s are days where you can always find excitement with any team.

The NBA season tips off. A clean slate for every team. The Clippers look to spring forward with Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry looks to show off his sweet shot at the professional level, and the rest of the NBA Rookies look to make their mark on the league. This is a league full of superstars. From LeBron and Kobe to Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade, each player brings a different dynamic to the court that can only be classified as incredible.

And finally, the puck drops in the NHL. After a come from behind win against the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Penguins are looking for the first repeat since the Red Wings went back to back in ‘97 and ‘98. With all the free agent moves and offseason trades, the tides may be turning for some teams in the NHL.

Of course, I cannot forget College football. Every sports fan has a favorite NCAA team. With tailgaiting, face painting, BCS discussions, conference title hopes, stadiums with 100,000+ people, and bowl games… College football definitely demonstrates the true passion of fans and athletes.

Ah yes, it really is a great time of year!

I don’t know if any of you were watching the” Shaq Vs.,” show that aired on ABC.  For those of you who didn’t, it is Shaq Vs. top athletes at their own sport. This video is the final episode which included, 14-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion swimmer Michael Phelps. This looked like a great show, I’m sorry I missed it!

Enjoy the clip!

You may think of yourself as something of an art novice – most of us are. We may know what we like and what we don’t and what we like this year may be quite different than what we like next year. That’s probably why many of us don’t have much “art” on our walls. For one thing, art can be expensive, and for another, putting that nail and hanger in the wall feels too much like a commitment. If you live in a rental place or a dorm room you’re not going to risk your deposit, and so you live in an art vacuum.

Fathead solved the whole wall damage issue way back when we created moveable, reusable Real.Big. wall graphics. We reinvented the traditional sports poster by making it so much bigger and so much better – and people have loved it ever since. We took that same concept and created Fathead Tradeables, the 5” x 7” collectable vinyl graphics that you can stick (and unstick) pretty much anywhere. Fathead Jr. bridged the gap by making Fathead big enough to wow you and small enough to go places our Real.Big. product never could. With Fathead custom we put you in control and let you print darn near anything you wanted.

For the home decorator, however, for the person looking for fine art to transform a room, for someone whose idea of decorating is somewhat more traditional than putting up a life-size pro athlete, we had come up short. Mind you, we plan on being the number one brand in sports and entertainment graphics for a good long time, but this is our nod to the gift giver who’s buying that much-requested superstar for Johnny or Jennifer, and just happens to find a little something for herself.

That’s what SM/ART Squares are all about. At eighteen by eighteen inches they’re big enough to show off the art and still be easy to put up. Since they’re all the same size it’s really easy to mix and match them and create truly exquisite and unique compositions. SM/ART Squares include magnificent works from Old Masters like Monet, Van Gogh and Caravaggio, Contemporary Artists like Liu Ye and Mel Ramos, Modern Masters such as Edward Hopper and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as works of Decorative Art from such sensational photographers as Christopher Beane and William Wegman.  You can select a wide variety of works to express your personality.

If you get tired of the arrangement, move the SM/ART Squares around. If you’re ready to move just take them down, stick them to the backing (don’t forget to keep it) and take them with you – you won’t have any holes to fill or repaint. When you’re ready to expand your collection or decorate another room, just order some more; at $19.99 each they’re a truly great value in art. We’ll be adding many more works of art in the future, so there will be plenty more to choose from.

We’re really excited about SM/ART Squares. Personally, I think of them as nothing less than a revolution in the human relationship to art. That’s just one person’s opinion though, so we want to hear your thoughts and answer your questions. Let us know what you think.

Here at Fathead we’ve had lots of requests for Nickelodeon^® products like Dora the Explorer^® (coming soon!), iCarly^® and especially SpongeBob. Well SpongeBob SquarePants^®  , his friend Patrick, and more from the crew of the much-loved show are now ready to take their place on your child’s bedroom wall (or any room where a large, square, under-water, yellow cartoon character seems appropriate – I can think of dozens of places). These SpongeBob Fatheads are so true to the show you can practically smell the Krabby Patties. We got to talking about the SpongeBob artwork and the show the other day here at Fathead Central and I was astonished at the breadth of knowledge among my colleagues, especially in comparison to my utter lack of exposure. I’ve since watched a couple of SpongeBob YouTube videos pertaining to SpongeBob SquarePants and the Krusty Krab, specifically the training videos. I have to say, these SpongeBob episodes are monstrously funny and remind me of the Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes of my youth to which I was utterly addicted (and yes, I actually saw the original airings).

Now that I’ve been turned on to SpongeBob, and can actually recognize and name Mr. Krabbs, Squidward, Plankton, Gary, Sandy, Patrick and the big sponge himself, I feel like I’ve missed out on something huge and need the kind of guidance only the true fan can provide. Since Fathead is all about bringing fans together with their passions, I’d like to hear what you love about SpongeBob and some of your favorite episodes. Post away.

In our quest to cover every wall we continue to look around corners for something that will help you make your kids happy. We don’t want to leave someone out of the Fathead Revolution just because they’re not into sports. In the past few weeks we’ve introduced everything from cartoon animals like jungle animals, farm animals, sea creatures and baby dinosaurs to awesome photographs of horses and lions. There are even these realistic looking dinosaurs like an 8ft Apatosaurus and a T-Rex that will have you running for cover. OK, not exactly the perfect thing for little kids but your Jr. Paleontologist is going to love it.

If Pirates, Princess Castles or Outer Space are more in line with your child’s playful imagination then we’ve done our part to provide the type of experience you’re looking for. Remember, Fatheads are moveable and reusable, and while we don’t recommend moving them every day, you can use them to create a special adventure with your child as you decide what fantasy scenes you want to create.

We have thousands of reviews on our site and it’s amazing how many of them talk about how Fathead is what brings the room together and “gives a room personality”.

Here are a couple of examples:

“We put the Lightning McQueen graphic in my 2 year old grandson’s room to match his new car bed! He loved it! It jumps off the wall at him and it really pulled the whole room together. We even put one of the graphics on the bed!! It was easy to put up and will be even easier to take down when we move!!!” – By Nana from Tucson, AZ

“My son loves Spiderman - and we are re-doing his bedroom. This is a perfect addition to his room.
We also have a Steeler room with a giant helmet, and a Ben Roethlesberger Fathead. They MAKE the room. Everyone comments on it. They are easy to apply and does not mess up the wall. - And they stay up - we’ve never had a problem with it at all! We also bought a Hannah Montana for our daughter. These bring a room to life - so much better than a poster - these are life-sized and give a room personality!” - By Sheila from Southeastern Ohio

We want to hear from you about how you decorate with Fathead so we can share your ideas with Fathead Nation. We’re waiting to hear from you!

To pretty much everyone on the planet outside the US and maybe Canada, football is a 90 minute game (called a match) that involves a lot of running, kicking, heading and no hands (unless you’re the goal keeper and you’re inside the box). Football is played on a pitch, which looks a lot like a field. When Fathead introduced players from Manchester United and FCBarcelona to its ever-expanding roster last week, there was some debate about what to call the new category. Well, actually, the debate took place mostly in my mind because when it comes to the world’s game there aren’t exactly a lot of aficionados around here. I settled on International Soccer because to most Americans that’s pretty clear and leaves little room for confusion over the phrase “pass the football” which in this case does not involve a tight spiral.

In case you don’t follow International Soccer, Manchester United and FCBarcelona faced off in this year’s UEFA Champions League final match which FCBarcelona won. These seemed like two really good clubs to start with since we had our pick of some well-known players like Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry of Barca and Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo of Man U. And yes, we know that Ronaldo is most likely off to Real Madrid but he’s had such a great career at Manchester United that we felt like everyone should have a chance to get him in his Red Devils jersey. We have a couple more clubs waiting on the sidelines that we’re finalizing now. We’re also planning on having the club crests which you might call the team logos.

Since Fathead is just getting into the world of International Soccer it seems like a good time to hear from all you fans out there about which clubs and footballers you’d love to see as a giant wall graphic. Give us a shout and let us know what you think. And, if you have any opinions about what to call the sport, you can share that too.

We added a new category to the vast collection of Fathead products the other day and we call it USA. We needed a way to group under a common banner products as diverse as US Military Insignia and Vehicles, the American Flag, President Obama and our two latest bits of Americana – Harley-Davidson and Made in Detroit. Then it occurred to me – Fathead doesn’t just have a category called USA – we are USA! What I mean is, Fathead is located in, designed in and manufactured right here in the good ‘ol US of A – in Michigan as a matter of fact. I bet most people don’t know that about us, but now you do. If you think that’s as cool as we do, give us a shout back.