Lisa Katayama

Shark bean bag chair

This shark bean bag chair, available from an online bargain retailer in Australia, would be a great gift for a friend who fears sharks, you know, so he can work on getting over his phobias at home.

[Product page via Neatorama]

Lisa Katayama

Designer chair transforms from arm to rocking

This design-y armchair by Hungary's Peter Vardal not only looks cool, it transforms into a rocking chair in under 20 seconds. So really, it's like having two chairs in one. It has a carbon frame and an elastic body, and it's called the Fotel.

[via Yanko Design]

Lisa Katayama

Personal Rockin' Computer

This is really just another fancy design-y chair that hangs from the ceiling, but its creators have dubbed it "personal rocking' computer: the ultimate generation workstation." It may be because the position of the knees when sitting in this position create perfect thigh space to put a laptop on. I kinda wish I had one instead of two flat couches which often cause strain in my neck and my back.

Yours for just $4200 from a Swedish web site. And no, I don't think it comes with a sexy woman on top.

[Product page via Notcot]

Rob Beschizza

Review: A week with the Sumosac Gigantor

The Sumo XXL Gigantor is a comfy bag that spreads out to cover about 40 square feet. I have been lounging on it and my conclusions follow.

• It's enormous, adequately constructed and significantly cheaper than the equivalent Love Sac. These are the three main points that you're probably looking for. Voila.

• The covers, available in four colors, are a basic faux-suede. Not as fancy as the Love Sac options.

• Getting the cover on is an an epic task. It's like putting a condom on a melon: not impossible, but you wouldn't want to have to do it for money. You'll need at least two people, so don't buy one if you have no friends.

• It's delivered in a relatively small container, and expands to full size when you take it out. I should have realized this when the exploded cardboard box it came in was clearly held together solely by its nylon straps. So don't take it out in the entry way, folks, if you plan on taking it to the third floor, unless you like dragging massive styrofoam Shoggoths up stairs.

• The shredded foam inside is surprisingly, but not amazingly, comfortable. It holds its form much better than oldschool beanbags. It's a bit lumpy, but it didn't bother me.

• I tried sleeping on it, because it was so big. I woke up a few hours later, after having a nightmare in which I had to escape my house, but there were snipers outside. My dogs had joined me on it at some point during the night. I went to bed.

• Don't get it in black if you have dogs and their hair is not black.

• This item is haunted by the same problems as other giant beanbag-like items: the lack of horizontal surfaces means that books, keyboards, scotch, etc., don't stay put, but the sheer size means that exterior reality is always beyond arm's reach.

• Unless you have a big room to put it in, don't.

The Sumo Gigantor is $400, shipped.

Product Page [Sumosac]

Disclosure: It's our policy to send send review stuff back or give it to readers, but this thing basically isn't going anywhere. So it will remain here for the time being, the comfortable syrofoam shoggoth of reviewer corruption.

Lisa Katayama

Review: A month with Hammacher's posture-improving exercise ball chair

I am a huge advocate of combining exercise with other activities &mdash most of my fitness choices have a social component to them (run clubs, volleyball teams, climbing gyms) and I do a lot of my editing and revising in the dog park. So the idea of being able to tone my tummy while blogging was too much to resist. Hammacher's exercise ball chair looks like a little alien on legs, but can it really improve my posture and strengthen my core while I work?

I used to sit on a plain exercise ball, but I got sick of it rolling away every time I got up. (It's also only good for your posture if you sit on it the right way: it's just as easy to slouch or wiggle on an exercise ball as it is to activate your core muscles and sit straight.)

Hammacher's exercise ball chair comes packaged in a rectangular box &mdash you have to inflate the ball with the included hand pump and build it yourself which, in retrospect, wasn't all that bad. The key is to pump it just enough so that your knees bend at a perfect 90-degree angle. The chrome-plated steel feet screw into a plywood base that keeps the ball from plopping out from underneath your seat. The chair has a pretty light blue, red, or black mesh cover, which makes it look like a cool piece of furniture and not a gaudy desk chair.

I've been sitting on this thing for about a month now, and so far, I really like the way my back feels. I like that I can roll around a little bit on the chair without it giving out under me &mdash I can do slow pilates-style belly rolls while I type. Is it slouch-proof? No. But the fact that it feels the most stable when my feet are on the ground and my core is straight is incentive enough for me to stop sinking in my seat. My shoulders, however, are a totally separate issue. They still hurt like hell after hours in front of the computer screen. Does anyone know of a chair that alleviates shoulder pain?

Product page [Hammacher Schlemmer]

Joel Johnson

Mojo Workin's One-Wheeled Baby Stroller

I'd have to use one in real life before I dropped $475 on a one-wheeled stroller, but even if it's not as practical as its creator claims, the one-of-a-kind unit has a neat design. I bet that black plastic shell gets hot on little legs, though.

IT IS MADE WITH A STYROFOAM INNER GIVING IT VERY LITTLE WEIGHT. IT IS COVERED WITH A LEADFREE PLASTICIZED COATING THAT IS UV STABLE AND NON TOXIC. THIS COATING GIVES IT INCREDIBLE STRENGTH AND DURABILITY. IT RIDES ON A SINGLE 10" INFLATABLE TIRE. THIS SINGLE TIRE GIVES THE STROLLER UNMATCHED MANUVERABILITY AND THE ABILITY TO TRANSVERSE ALL TYPES OF TERRAIN. THIS ITEM IS VERY STABLE AND CAN NOT TOPPLE WHILE MOVING.

Steven Leckart

Furniture That Counts Calories

Part of Alice Wang's Chairs for the Dysfunctional collection, the Constant Shaker chair measures and displays the number of calories your body burns while fidgeting in your seat.

...Or you could just calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). I'm burning somewhere around 85-90 calories/hour just sitting here doing nothing. Which entitles me to one Michelob Ultra every hour on the hour.

[via MoCo Loco]

Steven Leckart

Hot Chair On Chair Action: SFW (Kinda)

"Check out what happens when Mr. Overstuffed decides to give a "full interview" to a hot colonial number named Tawny!"

I thought "chair porn" was obscenely-priced fare from Herman Miller. I was wrong. It's also photos of suggestively-positioned furniture.* FurniturePorn's design is wonderfully atrocious, as are the quality and clarify of the photos. My biggest gripe: not nearly enough content and zero video (hint hint).

The captions tell you all you have to know...

"It's a beautiful day... for hot gay teen lawn chair slut humpin'!"

"Baby did a bad, bad thing."

"I think deep down you want to be punished."

Yes, it is. Yes, he/she did. And, yes, he/she sure does!

*Yes, I realize Mark posted this 9 years ago. It's worth revisiting.

Update: NSFW

(thanks Inverse Square!)