Sling Blade Runner III

Continuing work on my Sling Blade Runner solution has led me to improve the search algorithm a bit further. Instead of looking for good starting-points for a search, it now looks for good mid-points and searches both forwards and backwards. This should, in theory, be a better way to do it and it does improve the average length of chains. But it turns out that it doesn't make *that* big a difference on the longest one (roughly 10 titles). The longest chain found is now 246 titles long.

1 THE PRICE OF MILK
2 MILK AND HONEY
3 HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID
4 THE KID
5 THE KID AND I
6 I WENT DOWN
7 DOWN TO YOU
8 YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE
9 ONCE AROUND
10 AROUND THE BEND
11 BEND OF THE RIVER
12 THE RIVER
13 THE RIVER WILD
14 WILD THINGS
15 THINGS TO COME
16 COME AND GET IT
17 IT TAKES TWO
18 TWO EVIL EYES
19 EYES OF AN ANGEL
20 ANGEL HEART
21 HEART CONDITION
22 CONDITION RED
23 RED RIVER
24 RIVER OF NO RETURN
25 RETURN TO HORROR HIGH
26 HIGH SCHOOL HIGH
27 HIGH CRIMES
28 CRIMES OF PASSION
29 PASSION IN THE DESERT
30 DESERT HEARTS
31 HEARTS OF DARKNESS A FILMMAKERS APOCALYPSE
32 APOCALYPSE NOW
33 NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DONT
34 DONT BOTHER TO KNOCK
35 KNOCK OFF
36 OFF THE BLACK
37 THE BLACK ANGEL
38 ANGEL BABY
39 BABY SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND
40 LEGEND OF THE LOST
41 THE LOST BOYS
42 BOYS AND GIRLS
43 GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
44 FUN AND FANCY FREE
45 FREE WILLY
46 FREE WILLY 2 THE ADVENTURE HOME
47 HOME ALONE 3
48 3 NINJAS
49 3 NINJAS KNUCKLE UP
50 UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
51 PERSONAL BEST
52 BEST OF THE BEST
53 BEST OF THE BEST 3 NO TURNING BACK
54 NO TURNING BACK
55 BACK STAGE
56 STAGE FRIGHT
57 FRIGHT NIGHT
58 NIGHT MOTHER
59 MOTHER NIGHT
60 NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN
61 MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY
62 MYSTERY ALASKA
63 ALASKA SPIRIT OF THE WILD
64 THE WILD
65 THE WILD ONE
66 ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING
67 THE KING AND I
68 I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN
69 GARDEN STATE
70 STATE FAIR
71 FAIR GAME
72 GAME OF DEATH
73 DEATH WISH V THE FACE OF DEATH
74 DEATH SHIP
75 SHIP OF FOOLS
76 FOOLS RUSH IN
77 IN PRAISE OF OLDER WOMEN
78 WOMEN IN LOVE
79 IN LOVE AND WAR
80 WAR OF THE WORLDS
81 THE WORLDS FASTEST INDIAN
82 INDIAN SUMMER
83 SUMMER CATCH
84 CATCH A FIRE
85 FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN
86 THE MOUNTAIN MEN
87 MEN WITH GUNS
88 GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
89 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE
90 RIDE WITH THE DEVIL
91 THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
92 OUT COLD
93 COLD FEVER
94 FEVER PITCH
95 PITCH BLACK
96 BLACK AND WHITE
97 WHITE WATER SUMMER
98 SUMMER LOVERS
99 LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS
100 STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET
101 MEET JOE BLACK
102 BLACK HAWK DOWN
103 DOWN WITH LOVE
104 LOVE LIFE
105 LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
106 BEAUTIFUL GIRLS
107 GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
108 GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS
109 GIRLS TOWN
110 TOWN AND COUNTRY
111 COUNTRY LIFE
112 LIFE WITH FATHER
113 FATHER OF THE BRIDE
114 BRIDE OF THE WIND
115 THE WIND AND THE LION
116 THE LION KING
117 KING OF THE JUNGLE
118 THE JUNGLE BOOK
119 JUNGLE BOOK
120 BOOK OF LOVE
121 LOVE CRAZY
122 CRAZY AS HELL
123 HELL NIGHT
124 NIGHT ON EARTH
125 EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY
126 EASY MONEY
127 MONEY FOR NOTHING
128 NOTHING BUT TROUBLE
129 TROUBLE EVERY DAY
130 DAY FOR NIGHT
131 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
132 DEAD MAN
133 DEAD MAN WALKING
134 WALKING AND TALKING
135 TALKING ABOUT SEX
136 SEX AND THE OTHER MAN
137 MAN OF THE HOUSE
138 THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD
139 DEAD END
140 END OF DAYS
141 DAYS OF HEAVEN
142 HEAVEN CAN WAIT
143 WAIT UNTIL DARK
144 DARK STAR
145 STAR WARS EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
146 BACK TO THE BEACH
147 THE BEACH
148 BEACH PARTY
149 PARTY MONSTER
150 MONSTER HOUSE
151 HOUSE OF DRACULA
152 DRACULA DEAD AND LOVING IT
153 IT HAD TO BE YOU
154 YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE
155 MY LIFE
156 LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT
157 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
158 ONE NIGHT STAND
159 STAND IN
160 IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
161 NIGHT AND THE CITY
162 THE CITY
163 CITY BY THE SEA
164 SEA OF LOVE
165 LOVE WALKED IN
166 IN THE COMPANY OF MEN
167 MEN IN BLACK
168 BLACK LIKE ME
169 ME MYSELF I
170 I WANT TO LIVE
171 LIVE AND LET DIE
172 DIE MONSTER DIE
173 DIE MOMMIE DIE
174 DIE ANOTHER DAY
175 DAY OF THE DEAD
176 THE DEAD
177 DEAD OF NIGHT
178 NIGHT AND DAY
179 DAY OF THE WOMAN
180 THE WOMAN IN RED
181 RED EYE
182 EYE FOR AN EYE
183 AN EYE FOR AN EYE
184 EYE OF GOD
185 GOD TOLD ME TO
186 TO DIE FOR
187 FOR THE BOYS
188 THE BOYS
189 BOYS LIFE
190 LIFE AS A HOUSE
191 HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
192 FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN
193 THE WOLF MAN
194 MAN TROUBLE
195 TROUBLE IN PARADISE
196 PARADISE ROAD
197 ROAD HOUSE
198 HOUSE PARTY
199 HOUSE PARTY 3
200 3 NINJAS KICK BACK
201 BACK TO SCHOOL
202 SCHOOL OF ROCK
203 ROCK STAR
204 STAR TREK IV THE VOYAGE HOME
205 HOME ALONE
206 ALONE IN THE DARK
207 DARK BLUE
208 BLUE CAR
209 CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU
210 YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU
211 YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
212 ME WITHOUT YOU
213 YOU SO CRAZY
214 CRAZY PEOPLE
215 PEOPLE WILL TALK
216 TALK OF ANGELS
217 ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES
218 FACES OF DEATH
219 DEATH WISH
220 WISH UPON A STAR
221 A STAR IS BORN
222 BORN AMERICAN
223 AMERICAN DREAM
224 DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
225 DREAM MAN
226 MAN ON FIRE
227 FIRE IN THE SKY
228 SKY HIGH
229 HIGH SPIRITS
230 SPIRITS OF THE DEAD
231 DEAD BANG
232 BANG BANG YOURE DEAD
233 DEAD HEAT
234 HEAT AND DUST
235 DUST TO GLORY
236 GLORY ROAD
237 ROAD GAMES
238 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY NEW YORK
239 NEW YORK NEW YORK
240 NEW YORK COP
241 COP LAND
242 LAND OF THE DEAD
243 DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS
244 CAMPUS MAN
245 MAN ON THE MOON
246 MOON OVER PARADOR
Time: 00:49:32

This is still just a simple best-first search and I still have high hopes for a beam search beam-stack search to do a lot better.

[Correction 2008-07-02]: When I say beam search I mean beam-stack search.