If I were to tell you that I am a musical robot, would you have any idea what I was talking about? If not, you need to watch "Spellbound," above. (If so, watch it again. It's great!) The 2002 documentary -- an Oscar nominee the next year in the category of Best Documentary Feature -- follows eight adorably wonky kids on their journey to the Scripps Howard national spelling bee, and the words on which they triumphed -- or tripped. I promise, you will never again see the phrase "marriage banns" in print without remembering its importance in the film.

"What makes a boy, and what makes a girl?" asks the documentary "The Gender Puzzle," above. It turns out we're none too sure, as the old XX / XY distinction isn't the whole story.

Meanwhile, a couple in Sweden is conducting their own investigation on the subject, by refusing to reveal the gender of their 2-year-old, named Pop:

“'We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mould from the outset,” Pop’s mother said. 'It's cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead.'"

The child's parents said so long as they keep Pop’s gender a secret, he or she will be able to avoid preconceived notions of how people should be treated if male or female."

For almost 40 years, Jack Chick has been churning out little comic book "tracts" in support of his particular brand of paranoid, hate-filled Christianity. You've probably come across at least one in a bus station, phone kiosk, or diner bathroom.

Directed by Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art curator Kurt Kuersteiner, the excellent documentary "God's Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick" takes a look at the man's impressively large body of work, which has found an audience with both Chick's fellow fundamentalists as well as with comic-book aficionados and other heathens.

No, the notoriously-reclusive Chick does not appear on camera, but longtime Chick artist Fred Carter does give his first-ever interview. We also hear from Chick scholars/fans like Hal Robins, Daniel Raeburn, and Rev. Ivan Stang, who winningly admits to a near-conversion experience with Chick tracts. Watch this if you dare, HAW HAW HAW! (Jack Chick fan in-joke.)

The great American road trip has been romanticized for as long as America has had roads. Men and women riding in wagons/trains/cars, discovering their country and, somewhere along the way, discovering themselves.

Take your pick of the classic literature and movies dedicated to this experience. (I'm partial to the Breckin Meyer classic "Road Trip" in which he plays Josh Parker, a modern-day Dean Moriarty.) (Or maybe "Cannonball Run.")

Now imagine if the trip had been made on a Segway that goes 10 mph.

In this documentary, two guys give up their corporate jobs to trek from Seattle to Boston on the two-wheeled gyroscope contraption, crossing some of the same paths as the Oregon Trail and the Lewis and Clark expedition all while traveling about the same speed as the Pony Express did way back when.

But the best part about watching people on a Segway is the wipeouts, right? Heh. Click "continue reading" for some more fine Segway moments for you to enjoy.

Above is "Johnny Berlin," a 55-minute portrait of a guy named John Hyrns, who works as a porter on a luxury train while planning to move to Phnom Penh to write a novel. Most of the documentary is just Hyrns talking, which works because he's a pretty funny, compelling talker. Watching him muse philosophically over The Who, his lackadasical approach to dating, how to donate your liver, the power of Windex, navy bean soup and more is almost hypnotic.

It got me thinking about some of my other favorite documentary "characters" -- the talkers, geniuses, visionaries, weirdos, outsiders and whatnot whose virtual company I have enjoyed. Here they are, in no particular order, after the jump:

Barack Obama won the presidential election, so who cares about voter fraud, right? But there were allegations that ACORN cheated for Obama. Election fraud is something everyone should be concerned about, regardless of who you voted for. Politicians have cheated and will cheat again, just like Charlie Sheen. Promise. So even if you loved Bush and don't think there was any fraud in Florida or Ohio, you should still watch "How Ohio Pulled It Off." This isn't just about Bush, it's about the heart of democracy.