Podcasting News

Cool Podcast Accessory: SUMO Lounge Chair

When we were much younger, back in the days of big hair, a-Ha videos, and skinny jeans, the folks here at Podcasting News didn?t have many worldly goods. Apart from our textbooks and big record collection (brimming with Elvis Costello and Brian Eno), we only owned a few sticks of furniture.

Our favorite furnishing was a hand-me-down blue fake-fur covered foam-filled chair. It was dark, cool, the perfect mix of squishy and firm ? and it could easily accommodate the two of us together. It was soooo comfortable.

We have no idea where it came from, probably from a previous tenant, but we called it The Blancmange (after a Monty Python skit about a giant blancmange ? pudding ? which comes from outer space to try to win Wimbledon) (not that other Blancmange, who were an 80?s pop band who had one big hit with the song ?Living on the Ceiling?).

The Blancmange moved with us from apartment to apartment, until, finally, on that fateful move from the last rented place to our first ?real? home, it moved on to that secondhand shop in the sky.

We?re full-fledged grown ups now, with kids and jobs and the means to purchase whatever furniture we like ? but we still get all sentimental when we think of our meager student days. We lament having gotten rid of the Blancmange, because, hand-me-down though it was, it was perfect for listening to music and watching movies.

Enter the SUMO Lounge, what we like to call ?The Ultimate Podcast Chair.? We thought it was pretty cool, because it reminded us of a ?ravioli?-shaped version of our old blancmange. To get a more hip and youthful assessment of the chair, though, we asked our young intern, jPod, to use the Sumo for awhile. Here?s what he said:

The first thing that comes to mind when one looks at SUMO’s beanbag chair is “Damn, that’s a big chair.? Not just any chair can elicit that kind of response.

‘Sumo’ is the perfect name for the monstrosity. One could compare it to a loveseat: It’s full-body comfort for one person, but can easily provide for two adults – easily the biggest beanbag chair I’ve seen. (We’ve managed to fit four people on it with little difficulty.)

Its packing is very well balanced; it’s flexible enough to be easily shaped and manipulated, and is got enough padding to provide an excellent comfort level. I’ve found that it’s most comfortable with the top half of the bean bag folded up to create a chair-like back.

The Sumo works very well for passive entertainment, i.e. listening to podcasts or watching movies, but it really shows its worth when it comes to more active forms of entertainment. The back support it provides makes it perfect for working on a laptop or playing video games (I beat Gears of War on this chair). Additionally, being that much closer to the ground eliminates some of the risk of unplugging or falling damage.

The only real disadvantages of the Sumo are its main advantages. Its large size may pose some difficulties. The fact that it was so low to the ground made Pippo, the Podcast Dog, think that it was fair game. These are very trivial complaints, however. All in all, the Sumo is an excellent choice of a chair for podcasters and media junkies alike.

A few other details about the Sumo lounge ? the chair is on sale for $129, shipping included, through the end of this year through the Sumo website. The dimensions are 4.5? x 5.5?, but somehow can be folded and squished for shipping or fitting into small spaces. The chair is swathed in ripstop nylon, and comes in half a dozen colors. If your intern spills something on the Sumo, or your Podcast Dog decides it?s the perfect place to perch, it?s easy to wipe with a soapy cloth.

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