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Thoughtful People Reveal The Simple Epiphanies That Changed Their Lives

Thoughtful People Reveal The Simple Epiphanies That Changed Their Lives

Thoughtful People Reveal The Simple Epiphanies That Changed Their Lives

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It's always such an interesting, refreshing experience to have a simple thought which changes the entire way you approach situations throughout your life. These thoughts can build over time or they can come completely out of nowhere. And sometimes, other people even impart their own wisdom onto us.

Redditor Orieonma came curiously to the internet for some insight into their own personal epiphanies:

What was your biggest epiphany?

Here were some of the answers.

The Getting There

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I don't hate my job, I hate my commute.

Your Own Path

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That I didn't need to reach the same milestones as other people unless I wanted to. That my goals in life could be different from my peers

A Metaphor

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I once took a drink of soda when I thought it was milk. It was the most disgusting thing. But I like soda. It made me realize that whether you like something or not is just as much about expectation as it is about what you're actually getting...

What's Gonna Come Will Come

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While watching a play of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for an AP Lit class my senior year of high school, something they said really clicked. They were having the existential crisis towards the end of the play, scared of what was coming next since their time was up, in accordance to Hamlet.

"But if we don't know what comes next, why be afraid of it?"

For some reason that's stuck with me, don't fear the unknown, because you can't know until you face it. The nightmares of what comes after death haven't come back since.

Piling Up

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I used to be lazy and a procrastinator. Behind on credit cards, behind on tax returns, mail unopened, bill collectors calling, dishes piling up in the sink.

I saw a psychologist, and he pointed out that I was making my own life very difficult. Penalties and interest were costing me thousands. Letting small problems multiply was creating much more effort later on. "Laziness is hard work," he said. "Staying on top of things simply makes life easier."

It was the exact opposite of my philosophy at the time. It seemed "easy" to ignore things and let it all pile up around me. But in reality every day was a slog and a chore. I had a constant buzz of worry in my head about the things I was putting off.

Today, my house is clean, my credit score is 780, and my tax refund should arrive any day now. Not because I'm some sort of awesome go-getter, but because I want my life to be easy and carefree. Laziness is just too much hard work.

The Word Is No

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You can say no. Oh you can say no, you can say no to the guy asking you a question unsolicited, you can refuse flyers, you can say no to the cashier when she asks do you want to donate to the children's cancer fund? It doesn't make me an a-hole, I just don't want it and I can deny it if I so choose.

Work And Loss

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I realized the other day that when you're trying working to improve yourself you might lose a couple relationships, but that is not always a bad thing. Losing that relationship just means they are not making you better or they are not helping you move towards your goals, and you will develop relationships in the process that are are after their goals and they will help you reach your goals and better yourself.

My roommates have been making comments about my life style lately that aren't true. Making claims that I'm wasting my life and getting nothing done. We are all college aged and I am currently working a full time job so I will be able to pay for school while all their money comes from their families.

I realized that they don't have a clue what I'm doing with my life and that I don't have to deal with them past this semester, so why bother my self with people who are bringing me down making me feel like it's my fault. They are the ones slowing me down. So I decided I'm moving out on my own to focus on my life without them.

Look For Reasons To Be Happy

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Being negative doesn't make me any happier. It's okay to get upset but always complaining and focusing on the negative doesn't make me happy. I found that if I can recognize the things to be grateful for, I am a much happier and content person.

Three Sizes

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Keep your head up.

When I was a kid I usually looked down at my feet when walking or standing around, even while talking to people.

I vividly remember walking to school one day when I was 15 years old and thinking to myself why are you looking at your feet? Nobody is going to respect you if you can't look them in the face.

So I looked up and have done so ever since. I think my self-esteem grew 3 sizes that day.

Self-Awareness

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That I can be a toxic person. I was always the victim and hurt others in the process

Now I'm just trying to improve and be a better person.

Poison Outside

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That you don't have to set yourself on fire to keep others warm. Helped me cut off toxic relationships which were making my life miserable.

Solving Social Anxiety

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That nobody cared about me. I don't mean that to be depressive. I get anxious in party-type situations. I was going to a wedding and was anxious about people's expectations. My dad had had enough, stopped me, and asked whose wedding it was. I said "Jim's" and he said, "oh, not yours?" I said no. To which he then replied "nobody cares about you here. Your only job is to show up, eat if you want, dance if you want, but realize you can sit on your a** the entire night and it will effect nobody."

I've never been anxious at events since then.

How To Be In Control

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That I to some extent can control my mood. Had been feeling a bit down for a few days in a row. I met someone on my walk to the tube. Who smiled and said good morning. I realised I felt a tiny bit more happy. So on the rest of my walk to the tube, the tube ride and the short walk before I was going to be at work I made it my mission to look everyone I got the chance to in the eye. Smile and at least give a small nod good morning or say it out loud.

By the time I arrived at work I feel rather upbeat and in a good mood. That was the day I realised I really could control my mood, and decide if I wanted to be in a good mood or not that day.

Beautiful Thoughts

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People aren't AGAINST me, they're FOR themselves. That makes me not an enemy, but a resource. I am responsible for myself as a resource and if I think I am taken advantage of, I've every right to remove myself from their lives. I am a privilege, not a right.

Unpacking Emotions

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Emotions make a lot more sense after realising I can be feeling two or more different emotions at the same time. I guess that's what is meant by emotional literacy.

Representing Yourself Well

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It matters what people think.

I used to be 'that guy' who always buried my nose in a book and it earned me a reputation as thinking I'm better than everyone else but now that I've closed that chapter in my life and began interacting with those around me, my life has improved dramatically.

For example, I shoot the sh** with the old-timers at the gym now. They think I'm a good guy and one of them gave me a heads up about a job opening at his company and put in a good word for me. I ended up getting hired. If I didn't care what people thought and indulged my natural, bookish tendencies; I'd be in a dead-end job right now.

Discipline

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If I want to stop unhealthy behaviors (drinking too much, eating junk, being lazy) all I need to do is stop doing it. Simple as that. No mind games. No excuses. Just don't do it. It's not hard. It's discipline.

Idk why that just clicked for me one day.

What It Means To You

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Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

I had a really hard time forgiving someone, and then it just hit me: "let it go, it doesn't really matter, and it's hurting yourself." During the time I was angry at the person and I couldn't forgive them, I knew the logic behind forgiving someone is that you are forgiving them for your benefit, not for them, but I couldn't let the anger go. I don't know how I was able to finally forgive, there is no secret for that, I guess just time. But when I had that epiphany of just let it go, it changed my life because the anger lifted and I was happier in all aspects in my life. There should be a life hack to get over these emotional obstacles like forgiveness or getting rejected.

Real Motivation

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I was overweight and unhappy with myself and one day it hit me as i asked myself "what am I waiting for, do something about it". This energizing clarity came over me as I realized what the f*** am I waiting for, I'm just going to keep being unhappy. So I started eating right and excersizing. lost 60 lbs.

Moving Up

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The popular kids at school never really put me down. I put myself there. I was so insecure about myself that I just projected my own feelings onto their actions.

Definitions Of Success

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That I don't need more qualifications to be successful, I am already successful, that work is NOT my identity, does not provide me with my self-worth. That I am enough as I am in this moment. That I am smart, capable and that I do not need to follow societies ideals of what a woman is supposed to be. No one tells me what to do, I fit no man's mold. I am who I am. And I am responsible for my own happiness no one else is. I've let go of the past, I've let go of the pressures and I am free.

Growing Up

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This is one that definitely made me less anxious about growing up. When I was younger I was incredibly intimidated about doing "grown up" things like going to the bank, going to the doctor's alone, etc. I just assumed that you had to know exactly where to go, who to talk to and what to do. Well, I realized how ridiculous that was. No one expects someone else to know everything and people who work with the public anticipate that they will be asked questions. All you really need to do to be prepared for accomplishing things in adulthood is be polite, smile and ask somene how to do the thing you're trying to do. If someone ever gives you gruff about it, remember that they are the -sshole, not you.

Maturity

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I was on a date with someone who I'd nervously asked out after we both got killed in a LARP. Toward the end of dinner she says that she's not really interested in dating me but that she thinks we'd be great friends. At that moment, it.... felt like a video game. As if a red orb of angst floated to me and a dialogue box popped up with options and I realized that I had totally the option to accept that this was a bit unfortunate but we could still have a fun time. I chose that and had this "doot-doot-do-do-ding!" Play in my head that I'd leveled-up in terms of emotional maturity. We went to the bookstore and had a great rest of our evening.

We remain friends, though have drifted apart since I moved abroad.

Your Reward

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Do things for their own sake. Don't go to work to make a paycheck. Work to work. Don't love for sex, marriage or kids. Love to love. Clean to clean not to have a clean room. Expectations lead to disappointment. It will still feel wonderful when you get that promotion, get married, have a clean home but when things fall apart (which given enough time everything will) it's okay. Stop being in love and start loving. Stop being musical and play music. It's this mentality that has made me a much better man in so many ways. I'm much stronger and resilient. A good exercise is to make something like a painting or a story, pour your heart out into it and when it's done throw it away. Clean up a street that is not your own. If you can appreciate maintaining, creating, building and destroying itself you have learned to appreciate things as they are. It's so much easier to do things now that there is less fear of failure.

People Share The Best Little-Known Movie Facts They Know

Reddit user Kuli24 asked: 'What's a movie fact you know that pretty much no one else knows?'

movie set
Chris Murray on Unsplash

Easter eggs, bloopers, trivia, behind the scenes anecdotes... cinephiles live collecting them and sharing their knowledge with others.

Some trivia is well known—like Eric Stoltz was replaced by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. Other tidbits are more obscure, like Arnold Schwarzenegger was first considered for the Michael Biehn role of Kyle Reese in The Terminator.

Some stories are conspiracy theories or urban legends—like the body in the forest on The Wizard of Oz set.

But what about just film facts? The obscure ones?

Keep reading... Show less
An illuminated mansion at night
Photo by Daniel Barnes on Unsplash

It's no secret that as a person starts to make more money, they may forget how difficult they had it when there was less money coming into their bank account.

Not only are rich people often incredibly out-of-touch with the realities of most people's lives, but what they choose to prioritize and bring into their home is often pretty bizarre, too.

Already side-eyeing, Redditor Jerswar asked:

"What's the weirdest thing you've witnessed in the home of a rich person?"

Love Can't Be Bought

"Rich grandparents had a brand new house built, had a $100,000 splash pad built for their only grandchild who has never visited them at their new house."

- wyoflyboy68

"This reminds me of when my sister built her house. She had a barrier-free ground-floor apartment built in it, so my grandmother could visit. She never did."

- P44

A Separate Hoarder's House

"I had a rich neighbor growing up who'd always invite us over for parties and always insisted on giving us gifts and leftovers. They did this with every guest."

"They were also hoarders but built a separate house to keep their crap in. It was filled with whatever they bought but never used and even never got out of the packaging it was delivered in."

"They told my mom to take a box of what she wanted, and for s**ts and giggles, she did. It was a knife collection and sharpener set."

- MUSTARDUNAVAILABLE

Unusual Art

"I was at John Waters’ house for his birthday and he has a room set up as a lifelike recreation of a meth lab (it wasn’t a real meth lab, it’s an art piece)."

"He told me that when Bill Clinton visited him the secret service agents were extremely concerned about the room."

- writeleahwrite

Weird Pet Relationships

"One client had a whole separate house on their property just for their dogs. They'd referred to it as the 'dog house,' and I was expecting like maybe a little building in the yard where they kept their toys or something, but this was a fully furnished home with king-sized beds and a huge playroom on the main floor."

"They had a full training and feeding staff to care for the dogs and everything. They lived in their own house and would come over to visit. Seemed like a weird dynamic to have with your pet..."

"One client didn't have a litterbox for the cats, their cats I guess didn't like using the boxes in the basement and they didn't want to put boxes upstairs so they put down pond liner and kitty litter across an entire room in the basement and had their housekeeper run a rake through it daily."

- daabilge

Special Needs Kitty Mystery Mansion

"As a kid back in the Mesozoic Era (I'm old), my best friend and I used to play in a converted racquetball court and lounge under the old West Coast mansion her family had lived in since its construction."

"The stairs to it were hidden behind a closet off of the abandoned servants' quarters. Halfway down the stairs was a wine cellar. A decoy as the actual wine cellar for the home was under the kitchen….. Another staircase behind a rack of dusty bottles led two stories down to our giant play area beneath this."

"At the beginning of WWII, before Pearl Harbor, my friend’s paranoid WWI vet grandfather had dug out the space over fear of Japanese (or German) invasion. Her dad made the giant room regulation designed for racquetball years later. Maybe originally squash. Not sure, but the lounge area was also glassed off above it so one could look down into the court like a gallery."

"It was really neat. Also upstairs in the living room was a wall straight out of an old mystery novel. If you pushed a spot just right, the wall opened to a hidden room. Super tiny and had a button to ring certain other rooms in the house as the home had these already to call for staff. My friend's mom said it was so if someone quickly had to hide, they could alert the household of danger."

"We used to pretend to be on Nancy Drew cases all the time... so fun."

"The family was wealthy, but despite the amazing home, they lived a completely pretentious free life. Normal cars, camping vacations, frugal living as sport."

"But they were philanthropists too, especially supporting organizations like the humane society. One thing about this family’s home was all the cats. I loved kitties but had a mother who preferred her animals well-seasoned. The family had the space so they always had, and were looking to adopt out but often didn’t, at least 20 rescue cats, many with special needs."

"I’m old, I didn’t know how to write that. Special needs kitty mystery mansion really is actually an appropriate description..."

- waltersmama

"Special needs kitty mystery mansion with hidden panic rooms and decoy wine cellars is like, the best possible fever dream."

- ConneisseurOfDanger

A Unique Viewing Experience

"In Naples, FL., I was at a house with a sensory deprivation room. Flat black walls with acoustic dampening baffles, in the middle was a coffin-like bathtub. It had speakers and a flat-screen display in the lid."

"I heard that the room cost over $100K to build."

- frank_sarno

A Christmas Village

"They had part of the house permanently decorated for Christmas and it included a fully decorated Christmas tree that was suspended upside down from the ceiling. Which was pretty awesome."

- lithecello

New Meaning to "Don't Take Your Work Home"

"My wife and I used to babysit for this wealthy couple when they went on ski trips etc."

"Except for the children's schoolbooks, there wasn't a book, magazine, or newspaper in the house."

"The man was a publisher."

- Texbadger349

The End of Laundry

"I knew someone who didn't like to do laundry so she just bought new clothes for each of her 4 kids every week. They were always high-quality or designer clothes. At the time, all her kids were 10 to 16 years old."

"What would happen if they liked an item a lot and couldn't find it again? Why not just teach the kids to do their own laundry? Why not hire a housekeeper who can do it?"

"There are so many options, other than spending thousands every month just to avoid laundry. Plus, they rarely donated it. Just bagged it up and threw it out. I never could wrap my head around it."

- coffee-jnky

Can We Be the Trivia Guy?

"I know someone who's worked for a very rich person, probably worth billions. He had more than 100 staff on site, including chefs for the staff...all while divorced and living alone. He had a 'trivia' staff member... someone hired to tell him interesting facts and stories daily. That was his only job."

"Someone else was hired to maintain his shoes. Polish, shine, the works."

"If I didn't hear it firsthand, I wouldn't have believed it."

- mambo-nr4

A Mud Room, Indeed!

​"I used to work as an exterminator, mostly pest control. This had me walking through houses from the poor to the rich."

"One day, I pulled up to a four-story mansion with more rooms than I could count."

"I spoke with the lady at the door and got started. As I sprayed, I noticed there wasn’t much furniture in the house. As I went, I made a game of counting the furniture I could find. Over 50 rooms and the whole building had 13 pieces of furniture."

"Pretty odd, but then I went into the very last room, a mud room right by the door I came into."

"I stopped as I walked in, completely shocked. A huge, full-sized (alive) adult pig stretched from one end of the room to the other, resting on the tile floor. I’m talking five or six feet stretched out across the room. Flies buzzed around its head as it stared at me."

"Suddenly, the lady (who I hadn’t seen since she let me in) said, 'Oh, don’t go in there. She doesn’t like men,' and then she walked me out, paid me, and went back inside."

- Moist-Exchange2890

His Very Own Hot Wheels Garage

"Buddy of mine has a car elevator."

"Instead of just building a bigger garage, he stores his cars stacked onto each other, like some kind of Hot Wheels accessory. It's very surreal."

- SmackEh

Make Yourself at Home

​"My friend's dad growing up was one of the top lawyers in our state. Their house was so d**n big, I got confused (lost as h**l) on all the staircases they had everywhere. They would split in a few places and lead to banisters that had different connections to different parts of the house."

"They had a room just for dishes. Her mom had a huge room for sewing and another for different crafts. They both had an office. Many guest rooms. A small kitchen in one part with a sink, coffee pot, and fridge. Their main bathroom for guests had heated floors and rainfall showers and everything. I LOVED HER SHOWER."

"Her room had a balcony and a table outside."

"They had a pool and hot tub. Horses and a barn and lots of cute barn cats."

"I was very poor and had a messed up situation in my childhood. I stayed there a lot and they would even take me for weeks in the summer because my mother was not there. They are really great people."

" They didn't give handouts or anything, I would literally scoop up horse shit and clean stalls and help with everything for those horses when I stayed. I wanted to help."

"They had a maid, but we still cleaned up after ourselves. Their kitchen was gigantic, and I always loved the fancy pasta water arm over the stove. I had so much fun cooking with her mom and us having the big dinners (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) with them."

"They were so magnificent and beyond anything I would have ever experienced without them. I got my first pair of cowboy boots from them for Christmas. Her dad bought me a plane ticket one time out of the blue because I wanted to visit my grandmother. Never forget them."

- xNinjaNoPants

So Much Wasted Food

"A very rich person I know does not eat leftover food. They will cook a feast and after, everything goes straight in the garbage no matter how much is left over."

- duckduckroosebolton

"My husband won’t eat leftovers because he thinks it will give him diarrhea. His family is preoccupied with food poisoning but doesn’t know any of the actual food safety rules."

"Oh well, more for me."

- jendet010

"My brother-in-law’s family does this but they are middle class. It’s such a waste!"

- outlawjoseymeow

An Art Enthusiast

"Not weird but a Van Gogh, just chillin' in the hallway. I took a selfie with the flash on, whoops."

- Raccoon_Expert_69

"When I did executive level IT support years back, I found a Monet dangling haphazardly on an office chair in the CEO's extra office (which was unused for storage, and had an extra desktop computer I would sometimes use for quick tasks when on that floor)."

"Another time, I was admiring a Joan Miro coffee table book in his main office, and when his assistant noticed, he showed me into a side room I didn’t realize was there, which had a mini gallery of original Miro drawings."

- spymusicspy

It's amazing what people will spend money on when they have the money to spare. It would be so interesting to see how much more a person would explore a hobby if they had the money to spend.

Movie Twists That Caught Audiences Completely Off-Guard
Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash

There's nothing like leaving a movie theater having just seen an excellent movie.

Particularly one that took you by surprise.

Perhaps it was deeper and more meaningful than it purported itself to be, or on the flip side, had much more warmth and humor that you would have expected.

Or, the film took an unexpected twist that you never saw coming.

Resulting in your needing to bite your tongue until the rest of your friends and family see the film, and not spoil the surprise for them.

Redditor HornyCorny was curious to hear which plot twists left viewers utterly speechless, leading them to ask:

"What’s a movie twist that caught you completely off guard?"

He Didn't See It Coming Either!

"Brad Pitt in 'Burn After Reading'."

"So surprising and downright freaking hilarious."- thefirehairman

If The Shoe Fits...

"'The Shawshank Redemption'."

"Come on."

"It's not always a man notices another man's shoes."- FUBARspecimenT-89

Lucky For Some, Not For All...

"'Lucky Number Slevin'."

"Huge twist and very satisfying."- kvlr954

angry josh hartnett GIF Giphy

Rosie O'Donnell Would Agree...

"Fight Club."- BuchseeI

"once watched it with a friend who had never even heard of it, and she called the twist like, a half hour in."

"She said it as a joke and didn't realize she was right until the actual reveal, but still I was shook."- yugosaki

I See You Keyser Söze

"The ending of 'The Usual Suspects'."- Schwarzes__Loch

Definitive Shyamalan

''The Sixth Sense'."

'I love movies with plot twists, but I never imagined this one. It caught me completely off guard."- lucasduka

Haley Joel Osment Movie GIF Giphy

The Title Is Also Misleading...

"The second half of 'Parasite'."- iwontrememberthat4

Appropriately, They Really Toyed With Your Cognition

"'The Game'."- DudeHeadAwesome

"Good one!'

"I spent the entire movie going 'is it a game? Is it real?'"- fastpixels

There Were Definitely Ghosts...

"'The Others'."

"Unsuspected end."- NeckComprehensive743

scared horror film GIF by FilmStruck Giphy

One Unforgettable Opening Scene

"'Scream'."

"The Drew Barrymore role."- LivingTheLife53

The Real Reason Everyone Is Terrified Of Bees...

"When I was a kid, I wanted to feel good and happy."

"So at the video store, I decided to rent a movie with two happy laughing kids on the DVD cover, thinking it would be a feel-good playful story."

"That movie was 'My Girl'."

"Eff that movie."

"Seriously."

'The DVD cover lies."

"IT LIES."- buckyhermit

You THOUGHT you knew who the villains were...

"'From Dusk to Dawn' — midway point."

"Didn’t know at all what I was walking into when saw it in the theatre decades ago — just, you know, Salma Hayek. Good enough."

"Quentin Tarantino slurping tequila from her foot after it ran down the entire length of her leg — that was already a 'Holy WTF' moment."

"But then, well.. . you know."

"And if you don’t know — quick, go watch it. "

"No trailer, no synopsis, no summary."

"Find it and load it 'blind' and fasten your seatbelt."

"You’re in for a wild ride."- canada11235813

George Clooney Tarantino GIF by MIRAMAX Giphy

It's Title Is More Than Accurate!

"'Crazy Stupid Love'."

"The scene when the whole movie goes apesh*t in the yard is one of my all time favorite movie scenes."- Fimbulvintern

Trifecta Of Twists

"'The Others'."

"The end of 'The Mist'."

"'The Prestige' (though, I ALMOST had it figured out, but not quite)."- Krinks1

There's nothing better than when a movie surprises you.

Even if it does make talking about said movie with people who haven't seen it a bit more challenging.

Case in point, people who saw The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects after their endings were spoiled for them, don't seem to like those movies as much as those who went in blind.