Never trust a thin cook, an angry clown, or a kindergarten teacher who dislikes glitter glue. This is wisdom I’ve picked up over several decades of life. And it might help explain the challenge of the teams competing to win $1 million for a 10% improvement in Netflix’s Cinematch recommendation algorithm.

The teams work with two very large sets of user ratings and the challenge is to predict each user’s second set of ratings based on the first set. As Clive Thompson describes in a fascinating analysis of the competition in the most recent New York Times Magazine, If You Liked This, You’re Sure to Love That: “Most teams suspect that continuing to tweak existing algorithms won’t be enough to get to 10 percent. They need another breakthrough.”

We’re inclined to think that what’s missing is the content. Understanding it – and the transparency this understanding adds to the process. The article describes how Napoleon Dynamite and a handful of other polarizing, often indie films cause a high percentage of the recommendation algorithm errors. At Jinni, we understand that a film is controversial by analyzing reviews. Take Schindler’s List. Many people consider it moving and many others call it manipulative. Analysis of reviews can extract and present this information, rather than averaging numbers.

Singular value decomposition, the hard task of uncovering “factors” people like or dislike, leads the Netflix teams to some unexpected correlations among films. These “factors” are the genes in our Movie Genome, which we keep explicit and can reason about. We can tell if two films are really similar and tune for different people’s preferences – for example, those who consider the soundtrack key and those who find it nearly irrelevant. And we can explain why we made a recommendation in plain English.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, “is even considering hiring cinephiles to watch all 100,000 movies in the Netflix library and write up, by hand, pages of adjectives describing each movie.” It sounds promising but purely manual methods are slow and expensive. They’re inaccurate - people tend to overlook tentative attributes - inconsistent - among different experts and even the same person at different times - and hard to re-do when the taxonomy changes. We overcame these disadvantages with our automated Natural Language Processing solution. To ensure quality, the automated tagger forwards questionable decisions to live experts and learns from the corrections.

The serendipity of an unexpected film you fall in love with is a tricky act. But like a cook who eats cake, we think a service based on analysis by people who actually watched the films can hit that sweet spot more often.

Update: An interesting new analysis of the Netflix competition on ReadWriteWeb, including the possible need for extra data and the human touch.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Whether you want to treasure it or escape it, re-live it or blot it out - find what it takes to get you through the holiday… These are real results for two Thanksgiving-themed searches in movies and shows on Jinni.com.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest directors ever. I wanted this post to be for his birthday, but then we launched Jinni in private beta and I missed the November 17 date. Still, I want to offer this list (hey, even genius directors get late birthday presents sometimes) of the top 10 movies with his favorite theme: rise and fall. Gangsters, athletes, tycoons, porn stars, and more. These guys got to the top but fell hard. If you want to learn how to stay at the top - read on…

10. Boogie Nights (1997)

Meet Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a young, well-endowed dishwasher in a L.A. nightclub. Spotted by an adult film director (Burt Reynolds) and hungry for fame, Eddie changes his name to Dirk Diggler and becomes the hottest star in the porn industry. Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakthrough film is an exhilarating ride through the underbelly of the 70s. Inspired by the films of Robert Altman and Scorsese, it features colorful camera work, a dynamic soundtrack, and a stellar cast.
Why the fall?
Like others who rose to stardom, Dirk Diggler started doing cocaine, yelling at people for no good reason and alienating those who really cared for him.
What can we learn?
Don’t forget where you came from.

9. The Aviator (2004)

Scorsese’se lavish spectacle hearkening back to Hollywood’s Golden Era tells the story of Howard Hughes, one of the 20th-century’s most pioneering and influential figures. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the eccentric billionaire, this biopic concentrates on Hughes’ life between the 20s and 40s, when he made striking contributions to both the film and aviation industries.
Why the fall?
Obsession and mental illness overcame him.
What can we learn?
Don’t forget to take that daily pill.

8. Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

Sergio Leone directed this epic saga, a classic crime drama that runs to nearly four hours, starring Robert De Niro, James Woods and Joe Pesci. The story revolves around the lives of childhood friends who rose from the Jewish ghetto to the top of the NY crime world. Sadly, this great movie was the last one Sergio Leone directed before dying in 1989 at age 60 from a heart attack.
Why the fall?
Greed and ambition.
What can we learn?
Don’t mix friendship with business.

7. American Gangster (2007)

British director Ridley Scott adeptly helms a Scorsese-like American crime epic based on a true story in 1968 Harlem. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is a driver for crime boss Bumpy Johnson. When Bumpy dies, Lucas takes over the empire and expands it with sales of a potent brand of heroin, supplied by corrupt Vietnam-based U.S. officers. Meanwhile, unpopular straight-shooting cop Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to investigate the New York drug world and fellow members of the corrupt narcotics squad.
Why the fall?
Lucas wore a chinchilla coat to a boxing match and drew way too much attention, including from the police.
What can we learn?
Save the animals! And don’t wear outlandish clothes.

6. Casino (1995)

Set in the 1970s and reveling in the minute details of how Las Vegas casinos operate, this Scorsese flick chronicles the rise and fall of casino manager Ace Rothstein. Regulars De Niro and Pesci are first-rate once again as mismatched companions, but Sharon Stone steals the show with a grueling, intense performance.
Why the fall?
Put two violent, ego-driven gangsters and one treacherous drug-abusing ex-prostitute in a single city. There was no way the three of them could all stay at the top.
What can we learn?
When you are successful and Sharon Stone is your woman, other men might get jealous.

5. Raging Bull (1980)

Scorsese’s personal approach to filmmaking reached a whole new level with Raging Bull, which also marked the first collaboration between De Niro and Pesci, to be followed by 5 more successful ones. The rise and fall of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta is played with incredible intensity and in an anti-Rocky style by Oscar winner De Niro (Scorsese’s longtime favorite, who got ditched for a younger Italian, DiCaprio…).
Why the fall?
It was the bad temper.
What can we learn?
Take a deep breath and count to ten before you punch anyone.

4. The Departed

A crime drama from Scorsese without De Niro and Pesci? Yes, there is such a thing and it even earned his much-deserved Oscar. It’s the story of a cop (Leonardo Di Caprio) going undercover as a mob member and a mob member (Matt Damon), infiltrating the police force. The strong supporting cast includes Jack Nicholson as the mob boss, Ray Winstone as his meat-headed muscle, Mark Wahlberg as a hot-headed police sergeant, and Vera Farmiga as a love interest for both Damon and DiCaprio.
Why the fall?
Costello (Jack Nicholson): “Rats. A legion of rats.”
What can we learn?
Think hard before you trust someone. And get a cat.

3. Scarface (1983)

Brian De Palma’s gory saga of a Cuban deportee’s rise to the top of Miami’s cocaine business has become a cult classic, referenced in rap songs and later gangster movies and quoted by fans everywhere. The film’s brutal violence and lack of positive characters still make it controversial and disliked by certain critics.
Why the fall?
When Tony Montana (Al Pacino, the protagonist) bought two white tigers it was pretty obvious the success had gone to his head.
What can we learn?
Nobody needs two white tigers in their backyard. Remember, one is enough.

2. The Godfather (1972)

Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece tells of Mafia life in the U.S. during the 1940s and 50s. This epic saga set a new screen standard for merging blood-soaked violence with intimate family drama.
Why the fall?
Sonny (James Caan) disagreed with his father (Marlon Brando) in the middle of a meeting with another crime family, making the family look weak and divided.
What can we learn?
Don’t interrupt your father while he’s speaking.

1. Goodfellas (1979)

A classic portrait of life in the mob, Scorsese’s wry, ultra-violent and exhilarating film tells the tale of neurotic Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who is joined by cool know-it-all Jimmy Conway (De Niro) and psychotic Tommy DeVito (Oscar winning performance for Joe Pesci) in his journey from innocent boyhood to crime-driven adulthood. The film established one of the director’s trademarks: pop and rock music to infuse every scene with a breathtaking, invigorating rhythm.
Why the fall?
Boss of the crime family Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino): “Don’t get into drugs! Promise me you won’t get into drugs.” Henry: “O.K, O.K, I promise, I won’t get into drugs.” He got into drugs.
What can we learn?
Don’t do drugs.

Want even more rise-and-fall stories? Search on Jinni.com for:
Rise and Fall * Gangsters * Blind Ambition * Life is a Bitch * Drug Abuse * Drug Dealing * Friendship * Masterpiece * Epic * Saga * Controversial * Gory * Mafia Life * Snitch * Undercover * Based on a true story * Greed * Loyalty * Betrayal * Prostitute * Jealousy * Rise to Stardom * (and any combination)

More rise-and-fall picks? Please add yours below!

Popularity: 11% [?]

We launched Jinni in a limited private beta on Monday. After many months if not years of work, it’s exciting to start hearing from users and reading about people’s thoughts on our service. Thanks so much to everyone who came to check out Jinni. We can’t wait to hear more, develop more, and welcome more people to Jinni!

Here are some of the great explanations and interesting insights (not to mention smart suggestions) about Jinni on blogs around the web.

Techcrunch: Jinni Helps You Pick the Perfect Flick
Movies are easier to access than ever, but many of us still struggle with the age old question, “What to watch?” The days of milling around Blockbuster may be gone for many people, but most cable boxes and online movie stores offer little in the way of movie recommendations.

Scott Blomquist: Jinni Needs Better Netflix Integration
If Jinni were better integrated with Netflix, it might become the only site that I use to manage my movie-rental experience. Which is great for Jinni, and just fine for Netflix.

latechna: Jinni review and invites
Today we reviewed Jinni.com which is a service that allows you to search movies using plain English.

Larry Ferlazzo: Jinni For Movies
Jinni is a new site to search for movies. It doesn’t appear to be as good a tool as Movie Lens is for finding films in categories that teachers might be looking for, but second place isn’t bad…

JonesPC: Jinni.com… Pandora with Movies?
What I found was a website that was only like Pandora in the background. After I got over my disappointment, I realized that Jinni is till pretty cool in its own right.

FilmDETAIL: Jinni: A new movie recommendation engine
Apart from ‘what is your favourite film?’, the question I’m most frequently asked is something like:
What’s a good film I should see?
This is a trickier question than it might seem, because although I have my views on what’s good, my taste isn’t always going to chime in with who’s asking me.

mdp Events Blog: Your wish is Jinni’s command
In Israel they did this awesome sorting page but with movies, Jinni, where you can look for fliks by theme, plot, mood and whatever comes to mind.

Popularity: 3% [?]

We say our lifestyle is “digital” because we are surrounded by digital devices that make our day-to-day efficient and convenient. But this lifestyle demands adaptation. The human race is not digital. Unlike the technology we’ve created, we never see things as “black or white” and “zero or one.” Our opinions are never precise, always shades and gradations – because we are analog. I know analog is seen as old-fashioned, related to slow signals, watches with hands and televisions you throw out. But then, people have been around for hundreds of thousands of years. In my opinion, we are entering a new “analog” era, in which technology adapts to people and successful mass market products have an analog feel. In an excellent recent article in Wired, Steven Levy suggests that this is what Nintendo’s Wii and and Apple’s iPhone have in common. They’re hands-on. With Wii, you play games more like you would in real life, swinging the remote as if it’s a golf club. With iPhone, you scroll the page with your fingers, sort of like reading a book. Or look at this “most satisfying” iPhone and Android app reviewed on Techcrunch - that involves a real punch. People like Wii and the iPhone because they’re intuitive. They feel analog.

Consider how we think about movies. Watching movies is a rich, sensual, intellectual, emotional, personal experience. Yet the entertainment industry has encouraged us to adapt to categorizing movies by genre. “This movie is a comedy” is a flat, inflexible type of definition comparable to the digital “zero or one.” When we remember or describe movies, though, we’re more likely to talk about “funny” or “thought-provoking,” “about siblings” or “with a surprise twist.” Not everyone chooses the same description, and these natural metaphors are nuanced – analog like we are.

After so many years of genres, we don’t trust technology to find movies the way we think, so we search with clear-cut keywords. But our experience at Jinni is that when people realize they can, they pretty quickly start looking for “stylized and bloody” or “dangerous heroine” instead of “action.” What do you think – can our entertainment categories go analog?

Popularity: 5% [?]