Settling in

Well it's been a little over three weeks at this point and I am finally getting things set up in the apartment. I don't have a TV, there's no Sofa. I never quite got around to setting up an Internet package... but those are all optional extras. I had to focus on the priorities... what might be more important than TV and the internet for a tech worker and self confessed geek?

I'm going to leave you hanging on the suspense of that question and jump back to an update on the Moto 360!

I have been using my 360 for a couple of weeks now and whilst the people I work with often seem underwhelmed with what it is capable of doing, I am still very happy. Sure it's 'only' really good for notifications and quick responses, and there are not many apps for it, but I feel that is really missing the point. This is clearly not a replacement for my phone, but it is a replacement for my Jawbone! (and a LOT more comfortable to wear) and a wristwatch... I mean sure I haven't used one of those in ten year but it turns out that it's a lot easier to look at your wrist to find out that you are five minutes late to a meeting than try and check your phone, whilst wrestling with the coffee machine that is inexplicably attempting to see how far it can spit coffee grinds across the room. And that is disregarding the fact that when I checked, it also told me what meeting, with who and where... and buzzed to give me ten minutes notice which is why I had rushed to the coffee machine. If I am out walking and need directions, wanting to check where to turn, change music track or the volume I am no longer constantly pulling out my phone and struggling to see the screen in the glare of the californian sun. Instead I am simply checking the time, maybe a swipe or two and getting all of that information.

I guess the 360 is more like the x to y. It isn't a stand alone device and people shouldn't be expecting one. It is a second screen with some convenient features that mean your fitbit / jawbone / watch are all unnecessary. And for me that is enough. I don't want to be trying to play games on it, or check share prices (although it seems very determined to keep informing me). The buyer's remorse I felt on first hitting the "Complete Order" button is well and truly gone and I am now enjoying an augmented life that has a lot less pocket searching, walking around looking like a tourist.

And there's one more thing, which has significantly improved my life outside of work - "Mute". When my 360 is connected to my phone, my phone is on silent, the only notifications that I get come from the 360. Not only is this a lot more discrete, it means that when I am not at work, I can simply swipe down on the 360 to mute notifications there as well and all of a sudden, I am living in the real world without the internet constantly buzzing at me to pay attention and for me, that's fantastic.

So back to my earlier question, what could be more important to a geek than TV and Internet access? Well there are two parts to that question, one is of course coffee, and the other is homemade bread. While I was at University, I was fortunate enough to have access to a rather good bread maker, and wanting to avoid revision and studying in general, I took to making bread every couple of days. Over the next few months I tweaked the recipe, discovered weighing flour is really important and, of course, eating a lot of bread. Whilst none of this did much good for my waistline, it did make me quite keen on good bread and totally in capable of eating supermarket sliced loaves. On getting to the US, the bread maker was one of my first purchases, and has since been put to use for the fabrication of my weekend breakfasts. To compliment this, I have added a high grade coffee grinder, Four Barrel's Guatemala Retana Coffee, acquired from Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View and a simple but functional French Press.

 

All together a perfect combination for weekend breakfasts... next up a frying pan and some eggs!

RETURN! With Moto 360

Hello!

That's right, I'm back in the USofA and this time it's for good (or at least a couple of years). I am not going to do the daily blog attempt of my previous trip but I will be keeping a weekly blog of an Englishman's life in Silicon Valley, living 'the dream'.

I'll be talking about the qwirks and idioms, people, food, boardgames and of course technology. I will be starting with the last of these. My newest toy and first real treat for being such a good immigrant:

Behold the Moto 360. The latest contender in the rapidly accelerating 'wearable tech' race. If you have been living under a rock the last few years, then you may have missed the recent evolution of these devices and their arrival in the mainstream conscience. For those of you that have, a brief history:

In 2008/9 there was a rise in wearable fitness trackers that were really little more than step counters that had been floating around for a decade or more, the 'new feature'? The idea that it would in some way sync with software on other devices (PC or smartphone) to give you a more data-driven lifestyle and way of improving your health. Fitbit and Jawbone ended up as the leaders in this fitness tracking race. (It is of course debatable whether the likes of pacemakers should be included in the definition but if this history went that far back then I'd never get around to actually reviewing the Moto 360 and I don't want a bunch of angry comments about being mislead!)

At Google's big annual conference, Google I/O in 2012, they upped the ante by introducing a different kind of wearable technology - Google Glass. It was an impressive introduction to a new product, however widespread privacy concerns, limited release and high price point have kept this out of the hands of all but a small number of people.

At the same time, a group of intrepid engineers were hard at work reinventing an even older form of wearable technology the wristwatch. As Randal Munroe points our in a recent XKCD the fortunes of the wristwatch had rather suffered at the hands of smartphones that, whilst less conveniently placed, were able to replicate all the features of even the most complex wristwatch. All that was about to change however with the Pebble. Started on Kickstarter as an android and iOS compatible wrist watch using a low power e-ink display, it acts as a wrist bound display for your smartphone, oh and it tells the time too.

This was by no means the first attempt at a smart watch (you can read a great article on some of the earlier attempts here), but it was the first to really hit it big. The support for both iPhone and Android as well as the ease of tool development combined with the massive popularity of Kickstarter at the time all worked to give the project a lot of publicity and momentum.

Clearly scrambling to keep up, Google announced a version of their Android operating system streamlined for wearables: Android Wear in March 2014 with the Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch launching at I/O '14.

September saw two big updates for smart watches the first came at Apple's annual conference , WWDC, the launch of the Apple Watch (apparently there is no i before watch for Apple). There was no watch to accompany this announcement (eta 'Early' 2015) and of course this is only going to work with iOS and with a hefty price tag ($350 - $100 more than the Moto 360).

Of course the other big update was the launch of Moto 360. Devices had been on display at Google I/O but sales didn't open until September 5th.

I purchased mine as soon as sales opened and have been using it since it arrived last week so (at long last) my thoughts:

I LOVE it. Simple as that. I had used a Jawbone up off and on for 6 months which had kicked off my love affair with fitness tracking. I am not a gym junkie and the mere thought of running leaves me needing to have a good long lie down, however I have gotten to enjoy walking and it is about the only form of fitness I will reliably partake in. Jawbone's app did a fantastic job of motivating me to walk a bit more, a bit further and stop me taking the bus (unless it was raining really hard!). I also liked the sleep tracking, although I never really worked out a good way of using the data, the alarm was a good wake up tool although my body still tended to preempt it and wake me up first.

Already the Moto 360 has all of the core features with more interactivity and realtime feedback than the Jawbone was ever capable of (even the sleep tracking that I so loved about the Jawbone is catered for). I think it looks a lot better than the Jawbone UP or even the UP24 but I can't deny that the Moto 360 is a big beast. I don't have the manliest wrist in the world but it does rather dwarf it and for a woman I think one of the square smart watch offerings may be preferable. It is not, however, heavy and in fact weighs less than the 'retro' wristwatches I could lay my hands on. The leather strap is apparently interchangeable although I can't see why I'd ever want to. The bulk does also give a nice, large and useable display; there is a reasonable amount of debate on the round v square displays. I have yet to extensively try a square display but I am very happy with being in the round camp for now - it seems to offer very little dead space, the image goes right to the edge aside from a small area at the bottom (for the display connections, presumably).

There are a bundle of great ideas being implemented here: a mute function that works pretty well to silence notifications in that all important meeting, an option to set the phone to silent when your watch is connected, the watch still has some basic functionality when it isn't connected and the much vaunted 'screen on' when arm is up feature... which drives me nuts. I can get it to reliably trigger when I want... most of the time... unfortunately it also triggers at all other hours and times from washing my hands & using my keyboard to when I would otherwise be fast asleep. I can't see that it would be hard to implement a tap to switch on or even the need to press the button which would allow me to really control when it powers up the screen. I would also love to be able to gauge what apps are using how much power as I can for my phone so that I can unceremoniously uninstall the battery hogs reliably instead of going on recollections of usage as I have so far.

Set up was straight forward although hampered by a slight freeze on my first attempt. I have since run the process several times as friends tested out the device without issue (although a reasonable battery drain each time). The first thing you are likely to hear about the Moto 360 are complaints about the battery life. 'It isn't long enough', 'It doesn't even last a day', and 'They lied about the battery capacity' are all frequent complaints parroted across the internet. In my experience the Moto 360 battery is substantially better than my Nexus 5. It will last around 36 hours with normal usage and charges very quickly (a full charge sat in the wireless docking station takes about 60 min). This is of course highly dependant on the usage you are making of the watch and some apps in particular seem to suck the life out of the device. This is to be expected when the SDK is relatively new and almost every day the behaviour of the apps seems to change as updates are rolled out. All this should mean a lot of improvements in the coming weeks. For now here is what I have noticed:

Apps:

Android Wear - for the Moto 360 it feels like Android wear is a necessary evil. Motorola will push you towards their own connect app which gives more shiny features (device naming, more watch designs etc). The main use of Android Wear (aside from the initial setup) is to help you find apps that have wear capabilities (such as ones listed below). This subset of Play Apps is a good place to start but I feel like that most of these are apps that I wasn't using to begin with. There are a few I tried anyway (again detailed below) but that doesn't really seem to be the way these things should work. Hopefully over time it will be less a case of 'look for apps that are compatible with wear' and more 'I got wear and all my apps use it'. Having got a bunch of apps to play with the next challenge came in finding how to play with them... the passive ones were easy enough - when there is an email or IM for me to check, my watch will tell me, when music is playing - I see that too but what about the likes of Duolingo or Tinder? Well the main way to start them up is to say "OK Google, start <app name>". I'll be honest I have yet to find a pronunciation of Duolingo that my watch understands. There is a manual launcher of sorts but it isn't easy to find and when but alongside the rather fetching interface offered by AppleWatch it looks like a Nokia 3210 alongside my Nexus 5.

From: test-mobile.fr

Initiating things in general using the watch is a bit clunky; trying to start a new hangout or playing your music are both things I am returning to my phone for much of the time and the inability to thumb up music is a little disappointing given how fundamental it seems to have been to every other example of Play Music's design.

Google Suite - This is of course where the most full formed apps can be found. Weather, Email, Calendar and Hangout message notifications as well as phone call alerts all work for the most part. The battery usage is reasonable and some response features through voice recognition mean you can hold a IM chat, take a note to Keep, set an alarm or timer all without getting your phone out of your pocket. There are constant updates to these features but at the point of writing some of the annoyances I have faced include calendar notifications repeating every minute even after being dismissed, voice messages not actually sending.

Navigation - Technically another part of the Google products along with Music below, I have split them out as I feel they really deserve a little of the spot light, they also do somewhat different things than just show notifications and provide simple voice input. The navigation tool doesn't really provide much scope for inputting a request (a simple voice tool will get you to the gas station/work/home but in most cases you are better of pulling out the phone to set the ball rolling. Once it's going however the display and buzz to turn work together to ensure you never need to do that walking while staring at your phone like a total tourist thing again - as long as you are willing to trust it and not look at a map!

Wear Volume - I use play music for playback and whilst this comes with song, artist, play/pause, skip forward & back; it is noticeably lacking any volume control. I am hoping this is a This is a feature that this is a limit time omission, however until then, Wear Volume fills the gap nicely. While the music is playing, a rather helpful image of the album art is displayed... although given my tastes in music this more often than not ends up being rather disturbing:

Fit - Fit provides step tracking and heart rate monitoring encouraging you to both get out and walk a bit and do it a bit more vigorously. These features are clearly still in their infancy and there are are a few things that are definitely missing at the moment but I have high hopes that there will soon be integration with other fitness apps like MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness, and RunKeeper. There should also be a lot more in the way of graphing, on phone view and maybe even a web interface are all things that would help this really become useful.

Duolingo - If you haven't used Duolingo and want to learn a European language... GET IT. The Android App is fantastic and for something that is free, incredibly fully featured. I look forward to some more exotic languages coming along but my French is getting a dusting as a result of this app. The wrist mounted version is still very basic - a simple ten word test that relies on honesty to gauge your learning. It is also hard to escape once you are in it until you get to the end of the questions. For now, not great but I look forward to the next version.

Tinder - One of the apps I installed to test the limits of the software. The idea of judging people basically just on their picture has always seemed particularly crass, doing it on your wrist is either perverted or just lazy and crass depending where you are at the time. Either way it does seem to be a particularly popular app for the Android Wear environment. My experience was a little disappointing... mostly because the app loads askew:

Presumably this will get fixed shortly be I'll never know as it is already uninstalled.

IFTTT - If This Then That is a great concept that I have never really found a use for and testing on the Moto 360 furthers that. It is a really good, simple, programmatic tool that I just don't know how to use. It also seemed to be a bit of a battery leech.

SleepWear - This is undeniably a battery hog, eating 65% of the battery in eight hours, something they really need to try and fix however it has some great features, particularly as I have been a fan of Sleep as Android (SleepWear is basically a bolt on so you will need to get both) for some time. If you are concerned about the quality of your sleep, a few weeks of use with this app and you will potentially see marked improvement. The basic app relies on leaving the phone sat on your bed (and undoubtedly plugged in to charge as it is also a battery hog) and it will collect motion data to assess depth of sleep and cycle periods including a cycle friendly alarm. These are all features that the Jawbone has of course and if you are lucky enough not to be sleeping alone every night then having something attached to you rather than the bed is going to be a lot more useful. SleepWear gives you that by using the watch rather than your phone.

Summary:

If you like tech toys: GET ONE NOW
If you want a useful device: GET ONE... if you have the money to spare
For everyone else, wait a year for the fad to end or the functionality to improve

In the meantime I will be wandering around California begging to be mugged and looking like a total prick as I stand there talking into my wrist.

Top 250 still to watch...

52 Django Unchained (2012)

97 The Apartment (1960)

102 Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

106 A Separation (2011)

107 Yojimbo (1961)

117 On the Waterfront (1954)

119 The Seventh Seal (1957)

123 The Kid (1921)

125 Scarface (1983)

126 Rebecca (1940)

127 Wild Strawberries (1957)

129 Fargo (1996)

130 Ran (1985)

131 Ikiru (1952)

133 Touch of Evil (1958)

135 The Gold Rush (1925)

136 Cool Hand Luke (1967)

137 It Happened One Night (1934)

140 Casino (1995)

152 Warrior (2011)

153 High Noon (1952)

154 The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

156 Gone with the Wind (1939)

157 The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

159 Annie Hall (1977)

163 Notorious (1946)

165 Into the Wild (2007)

168 The Night of the Hunter (1955)

169 There Will Be Blood (2007)

170 Network (1976)

172 Ben-Hur (1959)

175 The Big Sleep (1946)

177 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

179 The 400 Blows (1959)

181 Mary and Max (2009)

183 Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

184 The Hunt (2012)

185 Amores Perros (2000)

187 Persona (1966)

189 Gandhi (1982)

190 The Killing (1956)

192 A Beautiful Mind (2001)

193 The Graduate (1967)

195 8½ (1963)

196 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

198 The Hustler (1961)

199 La Strada (1954)

202 Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

203 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

205 Rope (1948)

206 The Exorcist (1973)

207 The Wild Bunch (1969)

208 Barry Lyndon (1975)

209 Life of Pi (2012)

210 Stalag 17 (1953)

211 In the Name of the Father (1993)

213 Fanny and Alexander (1982)

215 Roman Holiday (1953)

216 Sleuth (1972)

218 Stalker (1979)

221 Memories of Murder (2003)

223 3 Idiots (2009)

228 Like Stars on Earth (2007)

229 Ip Man (2008)

230 Incendies (2010)

233 La Haine (1995)

234 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

237 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

238 Rain Man (1988)

240 Rosemary's Baby (1968)

243 Papillon (1973)

244 Mystic River (2003)

245 Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

246 Before Sunrise (1995)

247 In the Mood for Love (2000)

249 Manhattan (1979)

250 The Celebration (1998)

Day 82 - Food Day Friday

Well folks, I have finally done it! All 30 Cafes across the whole of Mountain View have been sampled! And here are the findings:


30 of 30 Cafes visited!
Main Campus - Complete
near Main Campus - Complete
1900 block - 1 to go
Crittenden - Complete
GWC - Complete
Quad - Complete
SFO - Complete
SBO - Complete

√ Atom - It took quite a while to get to this one as I had been there before. The sushi here is fantastic, almost as good as Frank's. The noodle soup is also done in several other cafes and the hot dishes are ok.
√ Baadal - Indian food that needs to be booked in advance. Table service makes this place a little different to the normal Google offering. This food is pretty good! Not as fantastic as the very best but totally edible!
√ Beta - I love this cafe! Too far to go frequently but really nice.
√ Backyard - In my building and specializing in Barbecue (honestly it's a wonder I go anywhere else)
√ BETA C - A nice, balanced 'all round' cafe. Food of all sorts, well done.
√ Big Table Cafe - This cafe has a great variety of tasty foods.
√ Blaze Cafe - Fresh Pizza is the focus here but it has a few other things and is always very popular.
√ Charlie's Cafe - This is the original cafe of Google and it has everything from fantastic Pizza, burgers, burritos to Pho, Sushi & Indian.
√ Crave Cafe - Another of the more traditional line in Cafe, a fairly limited selection but theme days, the ability to make sandwiches as ell as cooked breakfast and supper make this a good choice.
√ Evolution Cafe - A selection of fairly healthy, orientalish foods in a small cafe.
√ GO! Cafe - This is a sandwich to order to place. I'm not a big sandwich guy but if Subway was like this, they'd be making a lot of money off of me.
√ Jia Cafe - Authentic East Asian food and REALLY good.
√ Long Life - Again Asian food but with a Korean/Vietnamese focus, the Pho here is very good but otherwise a little underwhelming.
√ Lunch Box Cafe - This place does a couple of dishes and a small sandwich section... that takes an age!
√ Masa Cafe - Burritos the size of your head made exactly the way you want.
√ Maverick Cafe - Nothing special, although the desserts are good and the staff are the friendliest on campus.
√ Moma Cafe - This place is the king of sandwiches, toasted, normal, sliders they are all to be found here. It also has awesome breakfasts with pancakes!
√ Nourish Cafe - This cafe specializes in 'healthy' options however despite this, they are still pretty tasty although Big Table is a more appealing option when in the 1900 block.
√ Quad Halftime - Sports Bar theme and junkfood on offer - I LOVE this place. It is a lot like Backyard but with a lot more variety (and a lot less sweet potato!) making it exponentially better.
√ Quad Hangout - Of all the cafes, this is closest to London's Market Square. It has the food with fancy names and ingredients, it has the sales people crowding around with their hoorah Henry accents that make you want to slap them and their judgement of you for choosing comfort over fashion... it was just like being back in CSG... suddenly I am a little less keen to go back.
√ Quad Portal - I had a decent breakfast here. Google in the US is great for weird breakfast items. Today's winner: Attack of the Killer Applewood smoked bacon and spam fried rice - that's actually what it was called, and pretty much explains what it was... DELICIOUS! The maple syrup sausage links were less appetizing but donut holes make a great breakfast dessert. Lunch is pretty good, a lot of choice so at least one thing should appeal whatever your mood.
√ Quad Trux Cafe -Trux takes it's queue from the Food Trucks that exist in the US. The idea is that you can hire one of these vans (think large ice cream truck) to supply food at events. Food Trucks will each specialize in a different style of food like Burritos or creole etc. They will also sometimes gather at a venue for people to try the different foods. This cafe has 4 different windows that will each do a different food and all of which are great. Breakfast here is not worth it but Lunch is fantastic.
√ root Cafe - A bit of a mix, nothing special but is fairly popular.
√ Slice Cafe - Some packaged sandwiches but the reason to come here are the fantastic smoothies.
√ Steam Cafe - This place is apparently not that good food normally however I was really impressed! The Gnocchi was fantastic and the turkey and italian sausage were both really nice. The dessert wasn't great but that is a minor quibble. The plates here are ceramic unlike the other cafes which have plastic (although Baadal is also cermic)
√ Stock Market Cafe - Interesting selection of foods from this small cafe. Not sure it was worth the trek but given the more 'normal' selection, I think if I was based in this office I would eat here quite often.
√ Victoria Deli Cafe - A selection of pre-made wraps and sandwiches in 'slider' sizes. Great for quick, small meals but less choice and further away than Go.
√ Yoshka's Cafe (w/e) - I have been here at the weekend but it felt like only half service so wait until I have been in the week to pass judgement. Weekday food here is good! Not much selection but the food is done well. A little too much oil in things though in the salad, the rice, the meat.
X Left Coast Cafe (SFO) It turns out this cafe was closed some time ago but the site page never got updated. Sad times
√ Warehouse6 Cafe (SFO) - The food just wasn't that good. I think it was the day as my recollection of last time was that it was pretty good.
√ YouTube Café (SBO) - The breakfasts are good, sadly the lunches are not!

Day 70 - The Cheese Burger Trap

Well due to the overwhelming response of zero, I am gonna kill this blog, but before I do I thought I would write one last blog to in part announce this and also talk on a subject that I have already waxed lyrical about previously, but flogging a dead horse is always fun.

America has brought to the world some of the greatest (and least healthy) food options to the world including many of my favorites. One of these is the Burger. Now I am a firm believer that more in a burger is better and one of the most obvious options here is cheese. Everyone loves cheese (or at least everyone who has an opinion worth recording) and cheese and meat is a great combination... but when it comes to America we have a problem. I have already talked extensively about the poor quality of meat and the abysmal quality of dairy in this country and cheese is really the best example of the latter.

This country is the inventor of among other things - cheese sauce, cheese that squirts out of a can and cheese slices... a selection of products that other countries won't allow to be called cheese but rather 'processed cheese'. In fact America seems to be focused on trying everything within it's power to process cheese above and beyond the required presumably in an effort to reduce costs and increase the preservatives and additives. This is all well and good, I am fully prepared for the shitness of american cheese but am still constantly mislead by the labels that they will put to try and convince me that the crap they call cheese is in fact edible... Swiss, Provolone and Cheddar do not in fact seem to hold any meaning in this country and as far as I can tell still are just shitty cheese slice with the addition of more / less colorant and occasionally some form of 'hole' to make it more European. The latest trick that had me fooled was 'Sharp Cheddar' that was neither sharp nor cheddar. DAMN YOU LYING AMERICAN BASTARDS PLEASE STOP USING CRAP FAKE SHITTY WANNABE CHEESE!!!

Day 69 - Film Update

The spaghetti western trilogy I had seen bits of before they are fantastic.

Heat was excellent. Wish I hadn't waited so long to see it. Some of the best dialog of any movie I've ever seen.

No country for old men... What the fuck was the point in watching this... I just don't get Coen movies.

The Bridge over the River Kwai was excellent! It is a very very good example of a skirmish war movie. I think it does a good job of including the hollywood hero whilst still tempering it with human failings.

Unforgiven... I had already seen this movie! It is excellent and I think the fact I didn't remember has less to do with the quality and more to do with the totally random name combined with the number of things that have referenced it over the years, which is really a tribute to the calibre of the film.

Cinema Paradiso - I am often reluctant to try foreign films. I have this preconceived notion that they will be slow, unhappy and hard work. The vast majority of the ones I have seen so far on this list are sometimes slow but seldom totally tragic and often good for reasons quite aside from a sense of being 'artistic'. This film is crassly shot, and fantastically written. A story that feels more real than what comes out of Hollywood, with none of the formulae.

The Intouchables is a new French movie that is one of the prince and pauper flavor as a paralyzed wealthy man seeks a carer to look after him. This films panders a little more to the hollywood mindset and has a lot of the closures and feel good moments that you would expect but it plays it out just right and Omah Sy in particular really sells this film. You HAVE to watch this movie.

Stand By Me - I liked the narrative and slow pace of this story as well as the opportunity to see several actors at the start of their careers but I am not sure I really saw anything special here.

To Kill a Mocking Bird - I am not versed in American Literature... the two words go together about as naturally as Bacon Soda in my mind which also apparently exists. The thing about American Literature is that they are very much about the time and the place they were set in. They seem more of a commentary of historical events and American Social issues than a more fundamental look at the human mind or social issues and as such there is little to recommend them over other more widely read fiction. To Kill a Mockingbird has a glimpse of the truer aspects of literature as I see them, but only a glimpse. It is a good film about a time that Americans should be far more ashamed of than they are and that is about all the interest it really holds for me.

Shutter Island - This film is well acted but the story is a fairly basic twist and frankly too long for the content.

Braveheart is a better film than I expected but still not great... I think I would respect it a lot more if it was at least a little historically accurate.

The Bicycle Thieves - I think I missed something here but what a lot of crap. A guy you care nothing for looses a bicycle and then acts like an arrogant prick descending into madness in his attempts to get it back... big whoop.

Bold those movies you've seen in their entirety.

Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or saw only an excerpt.

Original List: (99/100)

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

2. The Godfather (1972)

3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)

4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

5. Inception (2010)

6. Pulp Fiction (1994)

7. Schindler's List (1993)

8. 12 Angry Men (1957)

9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

10. The Dark Knight (2008)

11. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

12. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King(2003)

13. Seven Samurai (1954)

14. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

15. Goodfellas (1990)

16. Casablanca (1942)

17. Fight Club (1999)

18. City of God (2002)

19. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2001)

20. Rear Window (1954)

21. Toy Story 3 (2010)

22. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

23. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

24. Psycho (1960)

25. The Usual Suspects (1995)

26. The Matrix (1999)

27. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

28. Se7en (1995)

29. Memento (2000)

30. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

31. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

32. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

33. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

34. Leon (1994)

35. Forrest Gump (1994)

36. Citizen Kane (1941)

37. Apocalypse Now (1979)

38. North by Northwest (1959)

39. American Beauty (1999)

40. American History X (1998)

41. Taxi Driver (1976)

42. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

43. Vertigo (1958)

44. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

45. Amelie (2001)

46. Alien (1979)

47. WALL·E (2008)

48. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

49. The Shining (1980)

50. Spirited Away (2001)

51. Paths of Glory (1957)

52. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

53. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

54. The Pianist (2002)

55. Double Indemnity (1944)

56. The Lives of Others (2006) nb Das Leben der Anderen

57. The Departed (2006)

58. M (1931)

59. Aliens (1986)

60. City Lights (1931)

61. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

62. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

63. Das Boot (1981)

64. The Third Man (1949)

65. L.A. Confidential (1997)

66. Chinatown (1974)

67. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

68. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

69. Modern Times (1936)

70. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 

71. Life Is Beautiful (1997) nb La Vita e bella

72. Back to the Future (1985)

73. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

74. The Prestige (2006)

75. Raging Bull (1980)

76. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

77. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

78. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

79. Some Like It Hot (1959)

80. Rashomon (1950)

81. Amadeus (1984)

82. All About Eve (1950)

83. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

84. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

85. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

86. The Green Mile (1999)

87. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

88. Braveheart (1995)

89. The Great Dictator (1940)

90. The Apartment (1960)

91. Bicycle Thieves (1948)nb Ladri di Biciclette

92. Downfall (2004) nb Der Untergang

93. Up (2009)

94. Gran Torino (2008)

95. Metropolis (1927)

96. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

97. The Sting (1973)

98. Gladiator (2000)

99. The Elephant Man (1980)

100. Sin City (2005)

24th July 2013: (173/250)

1 The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

2 The Godfather (1972)

3 The Godfather: Part II (1974)

4 Pulp Fiction (1994)

5 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

6 The Dark Knight (2008)

7 12 Angry Men (1957)

8 Schindler's List (1993)

9 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King(2003)

10 Fight Club (1999)

11 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back(1980)

12 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2001)

13 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

14 Inception (2010)

15 Goodfellas (1990)

16 Star Wars (1977)

17 Seven Samurai (1954)

18 Forrest Gump (1994)

19 The Matrix (1999)

20 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

21 City of God (2002)

22 Se7en (1995)

23 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

24 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

25 Casablanca (1942)

26 The Usual Suspects (1995)

27 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

28 Rear Window (1954)

29 It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

30 Psycho (1960)

31 Léon: The Professional (1994)

32 Sunset Blvd. (1950)

33 American History X (1998)

34 Apocalypse Now (1979)

35 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

36 Memento (2000)

37 Saving Private Ryan (1998)

38 City Lights (1931)

39 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

40 Alien (1979)

41 Spirited Away (2001)

42 Modern Times (1936)

43 North by Northwest (1959)

44 Back to the Future (1985)

45 Citizen Kane (1941)

46 The Shining (1980)

47 Life Is Beautiful (1997)

48 The Pianist (2002)

49 The Departed (2006)

50 M (1931)

51 Vertigo (1958)

52 Django Unchained (2012)

53 Paths of Glory (1957)

54 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

55 American Beauty (1999)

56 Taxi Driver (1976)

57 Aliens (1986)

58 Double Indemnity (1944)

59 WALL·E (2008)

60 The Intouchables (2011)

61 Gladiator (2000)

62 The Green Mile (1999)

63 Toy Story 3 (2010)

64 The Lives of Others (2006)

65 The Great Dictator (1940)

66 A Clockwork Orange (1971)

67 The Prestige (2006)

68 Amélie (2001)

69 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

70 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

71 Reservoir Dogs (1992)

72 Das Boot (1981)

73 Cinema Paradiso (1988)

74 The Lion King (1994)

75 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

76 The Third Man (1949)

77 Requiem for a Dream (2000)

78 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

79 Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

80 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

81 Full Metal Jacket (1987)

82 Braveheart (1995)

83 L.A. Confidential (1997)

84 Oldboy (2003)

85 Chinatown (1974)

86 Singin' in the Rain (1952)

87 Bicycle Thieves (1948)

88 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

89 Some Like It Hot (1959)

90 Metropolis (1927)

91 Princess Mononoke (1997)

92 Rashomon (1950)

93 Amadeus (1984)

94 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

95 The Sting (1973)

96 All About Eve (1950)

97 The Apartment (1960)

98 Unforgiven (1992)

99 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

100 Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

101 Raging Bull (1980)

102 Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

103 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

104 Die Hard (1988)

105 Batman Begins (2005)

106 A Separation (2011)

107 Yojimbo (1961)

108 Inglourious Basterds (2009)

109 For a Few Dollars More (1965)

110 Snatch. (2000)

111 The Great Escape (1963)

112 Toy Story (1995)

113 Downfall (2004)

114 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

115 Up (2009)

116 Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

117 On the Waterfront (1954)

118 The General (1926)

119 The Seventh Seal (1957)

120 The Elephant Man (1980)

121 Heat (1995)

122 The Maltese Falcon (1941)

123 The Kid (1921)

124 Blade Runner (1982)

125 Scarface (1983)

126 Rebecca (1940)

127 Wild Strawberries (1957)

128 Gran Torino (2008)

129 Fargo (1996)

130 Ran (1985)

131 Ikiru (1952)

132 The Big Lebowski (1998)

133 Touch of Evil (1958)

134 The Deer Hunter (1978)

135 The Gold Rush (1925)

136 Cool Hand Luke (1967)

137 It Happened One Night (1934)

138 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

139 No Country for Old Men (2007)

140 Casino (1995)

141 Sin City (2005)

142 The Sixth Sense (1999)

143 Strangers on a Train (1951)

144 Platoon (1986)

145 Good Will Hunting (1997)

146 Jaws (1975)

147 The Thing (1982)

148 The Wizard of Oz (1939)

149 Trainspotting (1996)

150 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

151 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

152 Warrior (2011)

153 High Noon (1952)

154 The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

155 Hotel Rwanda (2004)

156 Gone with the Wind (1939)

157 The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

158 The Avengers (2012)

159 Annie Hall (1977)

160 My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

161 Finding Nemo (2003)

162 V for Vendetta (2005)

163 Notorious (1946)

164 Dial M for Murder (1954)

165 Into the Wild (2007)

166 How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

167 Life of Brian (1979)

168 The Night of the Hunter (1955)

169 There Will Be Blood (2007)

170 Network (1976)

171 The Terminator (1984)

172 Ben-Hur (1959)

173 Million Dollar Baby (2004)

174 The King's Speech (2010)

175 The Big Sleep (1946)

176 Stand by Me (1986)

177 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

178 Groundhog Day (1993)

179 The 400 Blows (1959)

180 Twelve Monkeys (1995)

181 Mary and Max (2009)

182 Donnie Darko (2001)

183 Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

184 The Hunt (2012)

185 Amores Perros (2000)

186 Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

187 Persona (1966)

188 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

189 Gandhi (1982)

190 The Killing (1956)

191 Black Swan (2010)

192 A Beautiful Mind (2001)

193 The Graduate (1967)

194 The Princess Bride (1987)

195 8½ (1963)

196 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

197 Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

198 The Hustler (1961)

199 La Strada (1954)

200 Rocky (1976)

201 Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

202 Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

203 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

204 The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

205 Rope (1948)

206 The Exorcist (1973)

207 The Wild Bunch (1969)

208 Barry Lyndon (1975)

209 Life of Pi (2012)

210 Stalag 17 (1953)

211 In the Name of the Father (1993)

212 Monsters, Inc. (2001)

213 Fanny and Alexander (1982)

214 Infernal Affairs (2002)

215 Roman Holiday (1953)

216 Sleuth (1972)

217 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

218 Stalker (1979)

219 The Truman Show (1998)

220 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

221 Memories of Murder (2003)

222 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2(2011)

223 3 Idiots (2009)

224 A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

225 Star Trek (2009)

226 The Artist (2011/I)

227 Jurassic Park (1993)

228 Like Stars on Earth (2007)

229 Ip Man (2008)

230 Incendies (2010)

231 District 9 (2009)

232 Ratatouille (2007)

233 La Haine (1995)

234 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

235 Shutter Island (2010)

236 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

237 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

238 Rain Man (1988)

239 Beauty and the Beast (1991)

240 Rosemary's Baby (1968)

241 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

242 Harvey (1950)

243 Papillon (1973)

244 Mystic River (2003)

245 Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

246 Before Sunrise (1995)

247 In the Mood for Love (2000)

248 The Untouchables (1987)

249 Manhattan (1979)

250 The Celebration (1998)