An intriguing aspect of how Google presents their new music search in their blog is the premise that a search engine for music should include discovery: “a search engine should also be able to help you discover music you’ll like.” A crucial limitation of standard, keyword-based search is that people discover based on more nuanced, personal criteria. Google compensates by partnering with Pandora, imeem, and Rhapsody to link to their discovery services. (Ironically, as Rory Cellan-Jones puts it on BBC dot.life, this new service may also endanger the “fragile business models” of music services like Spotify.)
Interestingly, while the Wall Street Journal described Yahoo as quick to highlight “how it also allows users to stream some songs from its search results page through a partnership with Rhapsody,” the Yahoo blog post doesn’t mention discovery.
At Jinni, we believe search for any type of entertainment should incorporate a chance to discover new content. We aim to create this experience seamlessly via intelligent search that comprises mood and personal tastes in plot, style, and more, as well as familiar keywords like titles and people. It’s the difference between narrow search by “what you’re looking for” and search by “what you like.”
We’re honored to have President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among Jinni’s early adopters. He’s been busy rating movies - based on which Jinni displays his Movie Personality Sketch. He’s also following some users whose taste in movies interests him, and several others are following him. Check out his example of how to make the most of Jinni. *
Movie Ratings
Movie Personality Sketch:
Following:
Follow people inviting them to Jinni, adding them from your Neighbors (people with compatible taste) , or via the link to their public user page.
Followers:
These are people who choose to follow your actions on Jinni.
* Okay, it’s true, we just dressed up as Ahmadinejad for Halloween in order to add to the chaos and mayhem and maybe cause an international incident.
After Microsoft announced deals last week with Twitter and Facebook to include real-time feeds from both social sites in Bing’s results, Wired published an article “The Future is Social, Not Search, Facebook COO Says.” COO Sheryl Sandberg is quoted at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco: “We believe in the wisdom of friends.”
Interestingly, the example Sandberg gave to support her point came from the world of movies. When trying to decide whether Where the Wild Things Are would be too scary for her children, she posted the question on Facebook and got the answers she was looking for.
Movies are a social product that we consume in a subjective, experiential way – and so a great example of the limits of dry-fact, one-size-fits-all search. (Which by the way seems to me the best solution for some other types of questions, if one that still has plenty of room to improve.)
Rather than social replacing search, I see social entering search as part of a more general trend toward personalization. Incorporating your social circle into your online discovery or decision process is just one aspect of the kind of personalization that’s necessary to help people make sense of all the noise and choice on the web.
Rob Walker’s latest piece in Consumed, “Few Releases,” takes a look at redbox as a business that allies itself with the principle that consumers are overwhelmed by too many options (Paradox of Choice) and appeals in part by offering few. As Walker notes, redbox’s strongest point is spontaneous, rock-bottom-cost rental. But this is strengthened by a limited selection that focuses on recent releases. “You know, I missed that in the theater, why don’t I pick that up?” is how Mitch Lowe, president of redbox, describes the painless, near-instantaneous selection process.
The idea of ignoring everything but recent blockbusters may work for redbox. But it probably doesn’t look like a full solution to the overwhelming choice in movies for anyone who cares about culture, movies, or who has ever seen a blockbuster they disliked or watched a lesser-known movie they enjoyed.
Instead of just limiting the options, better discovery tools - incorporating personal and social elements – can give each person a customized set of options, limited by mood and taste rather than just by what’s popular.
At Jinni, we’ve been intrigued to note that people often describe our search results, which are as yet a one-size-fits-all proposition, as “recommendations.” I think this is because Jinni supports a personal approach that’s unfamiliar for users of standard search engines. You tell Jinni you’re in the mood for something “funny” or “thought-provoking” – and you get answers. This isn’t social, it’s a machine, though it is based on automated Natural Language analysis of many thousands of user reviews. Maybe search as a kind of active recommendation-gathering is the personalized future.
Amelia – the story of Amelia Earhart, the legendary American pilot – is opening this week. Why do we still find her story so appealing today, more than 70 years after her disappearance over the Pacific Ocean?
I think it’s because she dared to do what was considered impossible and even outrageous for women at that time. Even today female pilots are quite uncommon. This made me wonder – what if we combine our “strong female role” gene on Jinni with other genes that are usually related to films about men? The results might surprise you.
Further food for thought: Is Monika Bartyzel right to say on Cinematical that “adding more women to mix” has provoked a backlash?
“Cowboy” usually brings to mind a tough, rugged man wearing a pair of jeans and a wide-brim hat. The images that appear when you look up “strong female role, cowboys” are not very different: the jeans are still there, so are the hat and the guns - only the wearer is a woman.
We get stories about prostitutes who became cowgirls to make better lives (Bad Girls, 1994), a musical about legendary female sharpshooter Calamity Jane (1953) and even a disturbing family drama on a cattle ranch (The Missing, 2003).
Who is the greatest martial arts master in cinema? Bruce Lee? Jackie Chan? Perhaps Jet Li?
Your answer is almost certainly a man. But the last decade or so has seen a revolution in the area of women and martial arts. The pioneer was probably Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), with two heroines who fought as well as the men, sometimes even better.
Throughout most of the history of Western civilization, women were not allowed to become soldiers and fight for their country or personal beliefs.
In the last century this has begun to change, as more and more countries allow women to serve, even as combat soldiers.
But this is apparently still rare enough in the public consciousness to give few results for “strong female soldier.” We get true stories about female resistance warriors in WWII (Les Femmes de l’Ombre, 2008), a fish-out-of-water comedy about a spoiled Jewish princess joining the army (Private Benjamin, 1980) and an interesting Israeli film that portrays what happens to young women on the verge of adulthood in a country where military service is obligatory (Close to Home, 2005).
But does that mean there are no tough female heroes? On the contrary! Adding the “strong female role” gene brings us great tough female characters like The Bride from Kill Bill, Nikita, and Ripley’s character from the Alien series. (And check this article in io9 on “Is Science Fiction Feminized or Is It Sexist?“)
Apparently, women can kick ass just as well as man!
Boxing may be one of the most male-dominated sports. Most of us can name several famous male boxing champions, but how many of us can think of a female one?
Perhaps it’s the brutality of the sport. Nonetheless it seems that for filmmakers, female boxers are quite fascinating. “Strong female role, boxing” returns two highly acclaimed movies: the major Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Girlfight (2000). There are also several other lesser-known movies, like Shadow Boxers (1999) and Against the Ropes (2004), in which the usually delicate Meg Ryan portrays the first female boxing manager.
Theoretically, a mood shouldn’t relate to gender. But theory aside, when you look at the first few pages of results for “rough” (gritty, visceral) you mostly find men.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there are no rough movies featuring women. The combination of genes reveals many options for rough movie-lovers: from emotional, heartfelt drama like Maria Full of Grace (2004) to action-packed crime capers (Bonnie and Clyde, 1967) to contemplative social drama like North Country (2005).
Cinema-wise, movies about female soccer players are even rarer than movies about female boxers. The combined genes produce three quite different results.
Bend It Like Beckham (2002), a touching, coming-of-age story about a talented female player whose immigrant parents want her to follow traditional Indian mores; Gracie (2007), a tear-jerker based on the real-life story of actress Elisabeth Shue, who apparently paved the way for girls to play high school soccer in the 70s despite strong objections from her father; and the teenage comedy of errors She’s the Man (2006), in which a girl switches roles with her brother to be accepted to her school’s soccer team.
Gangsters is another very male-oriented theme. All those beloved and highly-acclaimed mob films like The Godfather (1972) and Goodfellas (1990) have huge casts composed mainly of men. Even if there is a woman now and then, she is usually a prostitute or someone’s sister/mother, and rarely important as a strong character in her own right.
Accordingly, the search for these two genes results mainly in films where women deal with the mob from the outside: either as journalists like Veronica Guerin (2003) or as innocent victims who accidentally tangle with gangsters as in Run Lola Run (1998) or Sister Act (1992).
A movie about a female gangster is yet to come – perhaps like in real life…?
Quentin Tarantino again shines here with both of his Kill Bill features, but there are other female characters who’ve acted alone for justice, vengeance or just plain action.
There’s Lady Snowblood (1973) about a female assassin avenging her family’s death, The Brave One (2007) starring Jodie Foster as a victim-turned-vigilante, and Gang of Roses (2003), where a gang of female criminals take the Old West by storm.
In all of these cases, women take their fates into their own hands, without need of any man’s assistance.
Sexism is the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. Of course, this term usually portrays men’s attitude toward women.
Therefore, it is not a surprise to find many movies that deal with the issue from the perspective of a strong female heroine. We get stories of women who deal with sexism as they try to get jobs, fulfill their dreams, contribute to society and help break the glass ceiling.
“The Song Decoders,” a very intriguing article by Rob Walker in the New York Times (with some smart reactions based on personal experience listed on his Murketing blog, including William Weir and Steve Sailer), looks at Pandora via an interview with founder Tim Westergren.
One question the article raises is how Pandora, with a “puny” library of only 700,000 songs, competes with services like Slacker and Spotify. I think the answer is Pandora’s powerful recommendation system: the subject of the article and a more appealing offer (at least for many listeners, in many contexts) than additional songs, in order to make sense of those very large libraries we now have access to.
Movies are moving in the same direction, as Chris Albrecht pointed out in a very interesting piece in last week’s NewTeeVee. Chris poses the question: between Amazon, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, and others, how do you choose which VOD service to use? As I commented, we think that people will use an outside service to select what they feel like watching from the world of movie options, then opt for a VOD service based on price and quality. Other comments echoed the “polygamous” approach to choosing a service.
“The Song Decoders” mentions what we hide as an example of the social influence on cultural consumption: “Last.fm, for example, publishes a chart listing the songs that its users most frequently delete from their public listening-stream data. The guilty pleasure Top 10 is dominated by the most radio-ready pop artists — Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” several tracks by Lady Gaga.” Actually this seems like an illustration of the opposite: the limits of social influence, since people enjoy some music despite explicit social pressure not to do so. Either way it’s quite a fascinating phenomenon and I wonder if we’ll see a similar one with movies and shows on Jinni in future.
First there was Paris Je T’aime. In 2006, 20 acclaimed directors presented their short stories set in the capital of love. 3 years later, 10 minutes shorter, and with about half the manpower, an additional group of directors is presenting their 11 love stories in New York, I Love You, the second installment in the Cities of Love series.
Every few years, someone tries it. Yet somehow, despite uniting acclaimed directors and stars, these omnibus titles never achieve great acclaim. Maybe it’s the too-high expectations that kill them?
Still, it’s a perfect chance to explore the “New York” gene in our Movie Genome, in all its richness and variety. Read on to find just the type of New York movie you’re in the mood for…
Thousands of movies and shows have been set in NY. We’ve seen the city attacked by creatures (Cloverfield), deserted after an apocalypse (I Am Legend), disaster-stricken (The Day After Tomorrow), attacked by terrorists (fictional in The Siege, and real and worse than any fiction, in World Trade Center), helped by superheroes (Spider-Man), decayed at night (Taxi Driver), ruled by gangsters (The Godfather), and the backdrop for numerous romances (Breakfast at Tiffany’s). Never a dull moment in the city that never sleeps. Any movie or show that happens entirely or just partly in the Big Apple will get the “New York” gene, weighted based on the city’s dominance in the story.
At Jinni, we call indies a genre, though indies vary widely. We expect indies to be more daring and imaginative than what the big studios and TV networks produce - and is there any other city that goes better with daring and intriguing? A banker by day and serial killer by night (American Psycho), a black, birds-raising Samurai (Ghost Dog), a couple erasing their memories (Eternal Sunshine), a musical about Nazis (The Producers), a DV work shot from a hot-air balloon and then reworked by animators (Waking Life), are just a few samples of what happens when the creative freedom of working outside a studio meets New York’s inspiration.
New York, I Love You is a perfect example of this gene. Other examples are separate stories by the same director (Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth), or multiple stories that intertwine (Ed Burn’s Sidewalks of New York). Even more unique is The Hours, about three female characters in three different times and places – one of which is contemporary Manhattan.
Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Shia LaBeouf, Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Robin Wright Penn, Christina Ricci, James Caan, Anton Yelchin, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Chris Cooper, Andy Garcia, Julie Christie, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Irrfan Khan… Enough to justify the “all-star” gene in New York, I Love You - no?
We use this gene even when there are only 5 big stars in a movie, provided they’re not just making a cameo. Multiple stories are naturally a good excuse to cast bucket loads of stars, but not the only one. So let the stars take you on a trip through time in New York – from 19th-century Gangs of New York, through mid-20th century The Godfather, to contemporary Eternal Sunshine…
Not just movies by Woody Allen and Scorsese… New York has always fascinated creators and directors, who aspire to depict a slice of life in this amazing city. From light hits and cult classics like Friends, Sex and the City and Seinfeld, to more unusual depictions like the surreal and humorous night-trip After Hours, or the Hindi-language post-9/11 immigrant drama simply named New York.
Whether true love or a casual encounter, a big metropolis like New York is filled with men and women – eligible bachelors, single mothers, widows, divorcees, unfaithful partners, gays and lesbians - all looking for love. Looking for Love is just one gene among many love-related ones in our Movie Genome (try Falling in Love, Tragic Love, Impossible Love, Love Affair and many more…) and it brings us many variations on the New York theme: from love mentors in Hitch, to light-hearted sailors in On the Town; from first-talk-then-have-sex in When Harry Met Sally, to first-have-sex-then-talk in Sex and the City.
If you’re wondering which movie is right for your first date, we can suggest a few. Naturally, we don’t want to bum you out with heavy social problems, or ruin it with political differences, so mostly light, feel-good and romantic titles get the “date night” gene. But not just. Uplifting stories, thrilling adventures, superheroes and fantasies also fit. Some teens even like slasher flicks on their dates (Note for directors: very few are set in New York). And this is what’s so great about movies - and Jinni - even a guy living in New Delhi can take his girl on a date in New York…
We use captivating in the sense that a movie or show is gripping, stirring, or powerful, sucking you in and keeping you glued to the screen for an hour or two, wishing it wouldn’t end, and saying a big WOW when it does (since you finally can pee…). Somehow, New York and Captivating mainly result in… crime and drugs. Giuliani and Bloomberg might not like it, but apparently viewers do.
Here at Jinni we are picky! Not just anything involving sex gets the mood sexy (try finding Sex and the City in the collage above). On the other hand, titles with no sex at all still can (The Age of Innocence). So if the characters are sexy, or if the sex is presented in a sexy manner, then you’ll see this gene.
Yes, there are some memorable stories and modern classics above, like 9 1/2 Weeks, Sea of Love, Eyes Wide Shut and Coyote Ugly (not), but surprisingly, I can’t promise that the titles above are THE sexiest out there. So New York, you still have room to improve.
Our Movie Genome generates a variety of title suggestions, all similar to New York, I Love You, but in different ways. Paris, Je T’aime is obvious, as apart from the setting, it has many of the same themes and moods. Sidewalks of New York tells multiple stories (intertwining, unlike in New York, I Love You) of love and relations set in contemporary NY, but while it is also talky, it’s not atmospheric. New York Stories is a similar tribute to NY, an episodic multiple-stories title, directed by three acclaimed directors. In Search of a Midnight Kiss is also atmospheric, in black-and-white (New York, I Love You is partly B&W), and as the name suggests, deals with a search for love, although in a less sexy metropolis - LA.
I saved a question for the end: Scarlett Johansson was originally slated to direct one of the segments, and she still appears under writing credits in IMDb. Her segment didn’t make the cut though (to put it kindly). But will we get to see it in a black market or Director’s cut version of the movie…?
And where do you suggest placing the fourth installment (given that the next one is already set in Shanghai)? Comment and let us know!
To celebrate our public beta launch in a meaningful way, we’re proud to be donating to Best Friends Animal Society, the largest no-kill animal rescue organization. For a limited time, we’re donating for each person who signs up FREE!– so Jinni is a better way to find movies in more ways than one.
♦ Invite friends to Jinni – each sign-up adds to the Best Friends donation
♦ Blogger or writer? Love animals and/or movies? Email us to let us know if you’d like to write about the donation campaign, and we’ll be happy to answer questions and provide materials.
Jinni is a company of animal – and movie! - lovers, so when we decided we wanted to spend the marketing budget for our launch in a more meaningful and satisfying way, Best Friends looked like the perfect partner. We believe it’s a great opportunity to support an important cause while drawing a new audience to try Jinni. We’ll be donating up to $10,000 to Best Friends over a period of one month, for the first 100,000 people who sign up to Jinni in public beta.
Just as Jinni opens to the public, Best Friends is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Best Friends Animal Society is a nonprofit, membership organization building no-kill programs and partnerships that will bring about a day when there are No More Homeless Pets. The society’s leading initiatives in animal care and community programs are coordinated from its Kanab, Utah, headquarters, the country’s largest no-kill sanctuary. This work is made possible by the personal and financial support of a grassroots network of members and community partners across the nation.
Get even more involved:
*A one-time donation of $5 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. Standard messaging rates and additional fees may apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of Best Friends Animal Society by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at www.mGive.com/A. You can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to 90999.
We’re thrilled to announce that Jinni is now open in public beta. We’re also introducing lots of exciting new features, many influenced by your feedback.
Jinni Community: Jinni just got social! You’ll be automatically connected to anyone you invite (or who invited you) to Jinni. Check your neighbors, follow interesting movie lovers, and see who’s following you.
Movie Personality: We’re continuing to develop intelligent features for personalized movie discovery. Check your Movie Personality Sketch for a visual presentation of your taste (on the right-hand side of your recommendations page). The Match-o-mat on any user’s public profile describes your taste compatibility.
Share: We’re rolling out the first set of features to share your actions and opinions from Jinni around the web. Check for options to share searches and interesting pages on Facebook, Twitter, and others – and stay tuned for more share and RSS features, coming soon.
Profile: Don’t forget to update your profile with a photo and “About you” sentence for other Jinni users to see!
You Click, We Donate: To celebrate our launch in a meaningful way, we’re proud to be donating to Best Friends Animal Society, the largest no-kill animal rescue organization. For a limited time, we’ll donate for each person who signs up (free!) – so Jinni is a better way to find movies in more ways than one. Please spread the word and invite your friends to help!
Feedback is always a top priority for us, so feel free to let us know what you think! We’re continuing to work on new features to make Jinni your best starting point for choosing movies and TV shows to watch.
October 30th, 2009 by Phoebe
