Friday, March 13, 2009

Friday The 13th

[LP]Hey, I saw you finally made it to number one in that netflix contest. Did you implement that idea I gave you... you know, the one where you boost the ratings of horror films on Friday the 13th?
[PT] (sigh)


No we didn't use movie metadata in our final push to number one. Instead, we relied on our original methodology... As the full moon sailed high, at midnight on Friday the 13th, we slaughtered a goat and offered its liver up to the gods...

Seriously, we're very happy about our recent progress and achieving this milestone in a little over a year. Thanks to everyone who has supported our team in various ways. Since we don't know how long we'll be on top, we captured this moment for posterity: http://pragmatictheory.googlepages.com/numberone

Now I'll go back to my BBQ. That goat will make a great roast.

6 comments:

CTV said...

Congrats to you guys for clawing your way to the top! now comes the hard part :) - Chris V (BellKor)

Nicolas said...

So you will eat that liver, right? ;-)
-Nico

Anonymous said...

you now have the best movie recommendations algorithm on the planet.

Would you learn more (on how to improve it if you implemented a rating website like Netflix?

Ver Greeneyes said...

That's not a bad question - if you went on to work with netflix after winning the prize (you can do it!), do you expect you would get important new insights?

Anonymous said...

Congrats, and a question:

Have you changed your position on metadata, and will you play with any additional bits of metadata besides Date?

Early on you swore off metadata, but recently noted that making use of the Date bumped you up - and the date is, of course, metadata.

Date may be an unusually good bit of metadata, since (or so I have heard) radio stations have learned they can target listeners of specific age ranges by playing the music that was popular when those listeners were teenagers.

Still, there may be other factors that would be helpful. The Key Grip's shoe size, maybe.

Old Fashion Pragmatist said...

If you know the number between 33 and 78, then you're in the right place. - oldies radio station slogan.

If most of your favorite movies happen to have been released in the same year that you graduated high school, then you're a typical movie fan. - 1970 HS graduate.

Alas, the training data is mostly individuals who rated only a few movies, so that probably won't help.

I coulda been a contenda!!

Good luck guys.