FTT Off Topic: The Invention of Dr Nakamats

New to Netflix Instant, it's a Danish documentary of the self-proclaimed world's most prolific inventor, the real-life Willy Wonka of Japan... and oh, my, is this well worth an hour of your time. Do we have a clip? Yes, yes we do.



And as I'm watching this, all I can think is... how much of the joke is he in on, really? We're talking about an 80-year-old guy who is trying to work out a bra, scaring dogs with a preposterous shoe car, sniffing cameras, demanding his own named room from a hotel, photographing everything he's eaten for the past 34 years...

But he's clearly on to *something*, given the activity level, the celebrity, the apparent wealth, the media savvy and coverage. And what does it matter, really, in the long run? If this was your great uncle or some other kind of distant relative, you'd probably be embarrassed by the antics, but for the rest of us he's just all kinds of awesome.

Because, well, at what point are you allowed to talk about yourself in the third person, be unreasonable to hotel staff, or more or less demonstrate a level of egotism that's right up there with your average best-selling rapper... if not at age 80? May we all live to such an enlightened state. And by all means, spin the flick for yourself and see what you think.