What are some traits/practices of experienced/good programmers that every beginner programmer should know… by Ken Mazaika

What are some traits/practices of experienced/good programmers that every beginner programmer should know… by Ken Mazaika

Experienced programmers do 29 things that every beginner programmer should know.

If you want to level up as a programmer, you should pay particular attention to #15 and #29.

1. Use Google very aggressively. You need to know how to phrase search queries, review other developers’ code, and apply it to the problem that you’re trying to solve.

2. Maintain an obnoxious amount of stick-to-itiveness. Veteran programmers embrace the experience of being a beginner with new technologies and teach themselves on the fly.

3. Acknowledge that micro-decisions matter.For example, things like naming variables, calling functions, naming CSS properties, using a hash vs using an array, and other seemingly small things can have a big impact.

4. Acknowledge that most major decisions don’t matter that much. Experienced developers roll with the punches and avoid the flamewars that other developers often find themselves in. They’re quite zen-like.

5. Always use the right tool for the job. There are so many different open source libraries, tools, and frameworks out there. Experienced programmers know what to use for each problem that they encounter.

6. Understand that code is cheap. You need to be ok with scrapping hundreds of lines of code to do things in a different way.

7. Evaluate technologies based on all their merits. For example, I’ve been bullish on Elixir. It has wonderful syntax, an amazing community, and a bright future. But it’s so new that if you want to actually build complex features, you’ll have a harder time finding open source technology to make your life easy. You need to take all of these factors into account.

8. Say “I don’t know.” There’s no quicker way to waste your time as a developer than to refuse to acknowledge what you don’t know.

9. Always analyze the clues found in error messages. Traditional education has taught us that failure is bad. Error messages are often associated with failure. However, good programmers know that these messages are actually clues that lead you down the path to the right solution.

10. Know the difference between a premature optimization and a show-stopping optimization that NEEDS to happen. They know the right time to write code that’s a bit more confusing, but will be faster.

11. Take responsibility for your mistakes.Mistakes will happen. Especially when working on a team. It’s a waste of time to pass off the blame because typically there are multiple parties at fault.

12. Become a power-user of your development tools. If you spend a good percentage of your time coding in a specific environment, you should know exactly how to control it.

13. Know how to use Vim (at least a little bit).You need to be capable of at least muddling your way forward using this text editor.

14. Never accept freelance work in an unfamiliar technology. A big part of freelancing is estimating how long things will take. Don’t put yourself in an awkward spot by projecting time for something you don’t already know.

15. Don’t count the number of hours.Unstoppable programmers spend their time doing deep work (as opposed to shallow work), and they understand that the number of hours spent working don’t actually matter.

16. Absorb massive criticism with ease. You need to develop the ability to react rationally and logically when your code gets torn apart.

17. Pair program with people with more experience. There’s no faster way to learn to code.

18. Always code review your own work first.Before you issue a pull request on Github, you should review the code and pick it apart as if it was written by someone else.

19. Recognize that the hard part of freelancing isn’t writing the code. It’s everything else.Sales, marketing, customer support, quality assurance, and product management will all take up a lot of time.

20. Identify and resolve bigger issues. The best programmers think beyond the immediate issue at hand and know how to deal with problems in a way that leads to more long-term solutions.

21. Dive into large open source projects to bring your features to life. Impossible is nothing if you know how to monkey patch a solution.

22. Skip a lot of meetings. Your company pays you to write code. Not to talk about writing code. When meetings get out of hand, it’s ok to start skipping them. People will appreciate your time more if you start doing this.

23. Know when it’s time to give back. There comes a time when you need to start giving back to junior developers, just like your mentors did with you.

24. Be capable of writing bad code. Sometimes, it’s ok to become a Duct Tape Programmer.Over time, you need to figure out when it’s acceptable to take a shortcut and when it is absolutely needed. This is one of the most difficult skills to learn.

25. Let other people know that you’re working late without being a jerk. If you’re the last one in the office, just send an email to someone with a quick update. People generally notice the timestamp.

26. Act as a leader, not a boss. Bosses are people who have people work for them. Leaders are people who other people follow. Be a leader.

27. Go play foosball. In the long run, building relationships with other developers (and people in other roles) will be more valuable than shipping a feature in a tighter window.

28. Learn under pressure. You need to know how to navigate a situation in which a system has gone down and you’re responsible for getting it back up. Even if you don’t know exactly how to solve the problem.

29. Move fast and break things. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Mistakes are often the best learning opportunities. So don’t treat your mistakes as failures. Instead, treat them as learnable moments and know that fighting through them is critical to your growth as a programmer.

Programming, like many things in life, is often more about the work you put in that your actual know-how. So, if you’re a beginner programmer, just get coding, and try to start implementing these practices into your routine to better your craft.

Dive a lot deeper into each of these 29 traits to learn how they can make you a better programmer by checking out this blog post: 29 Behaviors That Will Make You An Unstoppable Programmer

The Man who lives his life as a Goat.

While most people like you and me can be considered to be a little weird from certain point of view, there are some people who have taken it to another level.

Meet Thomas Thwaites, a former graphic designer who was so fed up with his life, that he went and lived like a goat in Swiss Alps.

Why he has chosen this life?

Thomas was tired of the problems a human being face every day, like a bad day at office, worrying about mortgages, growing old and household bills. He was not happy with a world controlled by humans where there are Syrian refugees and riches controlling the poor.

He wanted to explore what it would be like to live as a creature immune to the worries and frustrations—the "existential terror"—of everyday life, and to do so as authentically as possible with the technology that exists today.

In his own words:

“I was looking after a friend's dog, Noggin the Irish terrier, and I was having a 'what am I doing with my life' moment.

“I thought 'Noggin you are so lucky' and began wondering how I might see life from that perspective.”

“I tried to become a goat to escape the angst inherent in being a human”.

Why Goat?

he wanted to be an Elephant. However as he researched the animals he realized they have worries too and are thought to be one of the only mammals other than humans who regard death with sadness.

He choose Goat because they are calm and worry-free.

“But instead of the ferocity of a bear, or the perspective of a bird, the characteristic most useful in modern life is something else; being present in the moment perhaps.”

To live his life as a goat, he started designing prosthetic that will allow him to walk on 4 legs.

This was one of his early prototypes:

To help make his dream come true Thomas consulted a range of experts to advise on goat diet, psychology and physicality. He meticulously practiced how to move like a goat.

A year later, Thomas traveled to Switzerland to join a herd of goats.

Freed from the shackles of 21st century living , he had his new life – as a Swiss mountain goat where his only concern was where his next mouthful of grass was coming from.

Speaking about grasses, He also had to digest grasses that Goats eat. a feat which can not be achieved by the regular human digestive system.

He said:

“I knew if I wanted to live as a goat I had to eat like one and that involved grass.”

Animals have a digestive system which contains complex bacteria that helps them to digest grass. Thomas looked into creating his own artificial digestive system so that he could eat grass like a goat.

So he used to chew grass like a goat, but instead of swallowing, he used to spit it into a bag containing a sample of bacteria from inside a goat's stomach. the bag had an in-tube and a out-tube, from where the processed grass can be sucked out.

However, this method did not work and researchers who had advised him on bacteria, were concerned that he would develop a long term parasitic gut infection if he continues this diet.

So, he used a pressure cooker to break down the grass at the end of the day to eat it.

“It tasted like a really healthy stew but it was hard going.

“You'd have to eat a lot of grass to keep your energy up and that's what makes goats so amazing.”

Thomas spent £4,000 to build his goat exoskeleton and artificial digestive system.

According to him, the Goats have finally accepted him as a part of their herd.

He has also written a book on his journey. It’s titled: GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human which is available at amazon.

The Goat Man

Sources:

Offcial website: THOMAS THWAITES

His book: GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human: Thomas Thwaites: 9781616894054: Amazon.com: Books

News article: This Man Has Been Trying to Live Life as a Goat

What are some low cost smartphone gadgets?

Some cool gadgets for smartphones would be:

The credit card power bank

You can take this power bank anywhere and as it is in the shape of a credit card, it will fit in your wallet easily. This pocket sized gadget charges your phone without the use of mains or a plug socket. Just connect it to the appropriate port and you’re good to go, whether it is a iPhone or android smartphone, you will never be lost without charge again.

Panoramic pod

The Panoramic Pod is a tripod with a rotating mechanism that smoothly revolves 240 degrees. All you need to do is place your phone in the secure holder, turn on the panoramic camera setting on your smartphone and the Pod’s smooth wind up mechanism will do the rest!

This perfectly proportioned tripod is of course suitable for non-panoramic shots too, giving you the option for timed shots and video as well as mind blowing panoramas!

Mobile phone light

Super tiny phone lightClips over any size mobile phoneMiniature lightshadeSimply use your flashlight settingProjects a soft light - perfect for late readingNo batteries requiredScreen magnifier

With videos, movies and images, the average smartphone screen just doesn’t cut it. So if you’re looking for tablet-sized viewing without the hefty price tag, the Screen Magnifier is the perfect phone accessory. With a 7.8 inch screen, this handy magnifying frame allows the images on your phone to be amplified, making them bigger and easier to view than ever before.

There are no plugs, charging, or batteries required, and this magnifier is lightweight and fully portable. Perfect for festivals, camping or travelling, the Screen Magnifier gives you that big screen feeling on the go!

Power Share

Allows phone to phone charging. Transfers power from a phone with higher charge.

** All the gadgets mentioned above cost less than 15 £ . :)

What are some interesting facts about Universe?

by Aditya Pulugurtha
According to Stephen Hawking, time travel might be possible in two ways in future. According to him,

1. First theory is that time slows down as we approach heavy objects.
So in the future if we can manage to find a black hole that we can go near to, according to this theory, we can slow down the time. After spending just few days near it and returning to earth, people on earth would be many years ahead of us.
A black hole as we know from science fiction stuff, absorbs even light into it, there by it has infinite density and unimaginable mass.

2. Second theory is that some how if  we can beat the light by a large amount in a race, we can slow down the time. Consider a train that travels at a great speed ( obviously it can't beat the light) such that it can rotate round the earth at a rate of say 7 times every second, then some strange things happen. Now obviously light inside the train has a relative velocity compared to every light ray outside, very high. So the nature makes some changes in the other dimensions I.e, time so as to completely nullify the effect of higher velocity than light. It means time becomes slower so as to nullify the extra velocity of the light achieved inside the train. In this way also we can manipulate the time.

Source: Discovery Science channel

What are the bitter truths of going to the U.S. for an MS as an Indian?

by Nikhil Patel
#1 It’s not a piece of a cake

Most Indian students believe (or were led to believe by the great previous foolish generation of our parents) that Americans are dumb/American education system is poor. Don’t believe them. Previous generation of our Fathers/Uncles was inexperienced and stupid. Remember it’s the same generation who led you to believe that “Bohot scope he beta Engineering me”. They meant well, no doubt, they are good people, but they are inexperienced when it comes to the outer world than their 50km radius.

World has changed, a lot. Americans are one of the most hardworking people I’ve ever met. American students make sure that they get a chance to work with a Professor by talking to them, they are good at that. More than that, I’ve 85–90 Korean/Chinese/Japanese students who will work 18 hours a day to make sure that they come out better than you, and they do.

I’ve friends who topped their respective state universities in India, were unable to get a 0/100 in Microsoft’s test on programming. Don’t think that you know programming. More than half the world is better than you.

#2 Jobs are not easy

I know an Environmental Engineer, who somehow applied to 2000+ companies in a period of 6 months. I know a couple of Information Systems students who applied to various jobs (more than 1500) in 9 months before getting a call for an interview. I remember applying to 10 companies in India and getting a job. India has more jobs. I study in a reputable university in US whose CS used to be one of the best till ‘85. Out of 100, hardly 10 gets an internship. Don’t think that there are millions of opportunities in USA.

#3 Jobs are not for you

I study in Mechanical Engineering and I expected that number of companies for Mechanical Engineering would be less than CS/IT/MIS. Wrong. We’ve the same jobs.

Problem is here.

When Career Fair came last year, I was excited to see 120+ companies on day one in the fair for Mechanical alone. For CS there were around 130+. But here is the scene. They have various criteria such as, US Citizen/State Licence/Min work exp in US based company/Non-Alien resident/Only for Undergrads etc. I shortlisted according to these criteria and turned out to be only 5/120 companies where I can go. So, for a class of 95/100 immigrants there were 5 companies, and for 5 Americans there were 115/120. Cool huh?

#4 You don’t know a shit

When you enter a class in Grad studies, specially a field with a lot of Math in it (Aeronautics/Mechanical/Electrical etc) they expect you that you know MATLAB, Mathematica, Pro-E, CATIA, ANSYS, MAPLE, Simulink, CFD along with all the tools which you probably have never even heard of. First lecture will finish the course more than you studied in entire semester in India. Your life will be worse and you will think of going back to India. You fight. You clear the test. You may even get a good grade. In the end you will realize you still don’t know a shit.

Trust me, you don’t know a shit.

#5 Get ready for Stress/Depression

You come from a place where mom made you good food everyday and threw dishes for the maid to clean up at the end of the day. Your parents went for a grocery and all you did was to make them cry internally by throwing away their food.

Buckle up. You’ve to make your food now. You’ll start living on Bread and Milk. You will get annoyed/frustrated of before and after the job of consuming food. You’ve to walk a mile to get grocery and lift 10 kg of it in your hand and walk in a snow 2 feet deep. Your nose will start bleeding sometime due to that cold. You use to order a pizza from PizzaHut/Dominoes in India worth 150Rs by a single call when you’re hungry, now you can’t. Min cost of pizza comes around 15$ and including service tax, delivery charge, tip it comes around 21$ = 1500Rs, which you can’t afford. So you walk a mile to buy a pizza, just to save tip+delivery charge of 5$. It sucks.

You’ll constantly hear angry shouts of your senior roommates to clean up the mess you made in the kitchen. You’ve a debt with a bank in India and your grades suck worse than a vacuum cleaner, you will find only one way.

Jack Daniels.

Jack Daniels, Evan Williams, Corona, Budweiser, Irish Whiskey Tullamore Dew, Absolute Russian Vodka, Budlight, Royal Challengers, in the worst case, Cocaine/Heroine will become your partners. You will drink until you pass out or when you get in the bed, you will feel like the bed is trying to throw you away.

I never smoked in India. Now I smoke like there is nothing else in the life. Why? If fucking helps. It feels like vomiting your whole day’s shits in the smoke while throwing away puffs of smoke from the basement window out in the air.

Welcome Depression.

I lived there for 9 months, severely depressed that my legs stopped working for me in the morning when I wanted to wake up, I suddenly decided to take a break from all these shits. I called my sister in California that I am tired and I need a break. She booked a flight ticket for me to India immediately that night. It costed her some money to get tickets, but she did it anyway. She knew what I was talking about. She had been in the same situation 7 years ago when she was studying Bio-medical Engineering in Arlington, Texas. She didn’t question me a thing and she understood my silence. Right now, I am in India for a 2 month vacation and hoping to get well.

So before saying “Well, you went to USA. Your life is set, we’re not lucky enough to go to the USA, you are.” to a fellow of yours, make sure to walk a mile in his/her shoe. It’s not easy here.

You’re living a far better life in India.

20 Seconds is all you need

Remember this scene from movie We Bought A Zoo ?

“You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

- Benjamin mee

We fear embarrassment, so we don't even try. The idea is to just fake it for mere 20 seconds and you will find a real confidence thereafter.

…Just show courage and be ready for embarrassment for next 20 seconds …

Our brain thinks on the Logarithmic Scale, instead of the additive scale

What is the most interesting scientific fact? by Karmanya Singh

Our brain thinks on the Logarithmic Scale, instead of the additive scale. This means that our brain thinks in proportions instead of differences.

Thus, we subconsciously believe that the difference between 2 and 1 is greater than the difference between 3 and 2 and so on...

The first scale here is the logarithmic scale while the second one is the commonly used additive scale.

It comes in handy in most practical life situations but sometimes, it causes some problems too.

Take a look at the following scenarios

Case 1: There is one tiger in front of you.Case 2: There are two tigers in front of you.

Obviously, you are more scared in case 2 than you are scared in case 1.

Case 3: There are 100 tigers in front of you.Case 4: There are 101 tigers in front of you.

Now in cases 3 and 4, even though the difference in the number of tigers is the same, the difference in the fear you feel in case 4 is negligible to the fear in case 3, whereas this difference is quite substantial in cases 1 and 2.

This is because, in cases 1 and 2, the no. of tigers gets doubled. Hence the proportion is comparatively larger, than in cases 3 and 4.

Thus, logarithmic thinking helps our survival instincts and judge cases practically and comes in handy.

But in some cases, logarithmic thinking causes problems too. You wouldn't be as happy on getting a $5 discount on a $2000 object as you would be on getting a $5 discount on a $10 object.

This is because, in the first case, you are getting alower proportion of discount whereas in the other case, the proportion of discount is greater. Although, the amount of the discount is the same i.e. 5 dollars.

Hence, even though we learn to count on the additive scale, our brains were wired to count on the logarithmic one.

Credits: Vsauce 

Who are the Rothschilds, and why are they so important? by Devesh

The Rothschild dynasty is believed to be the wealthiest family in the history of the world. According to some estimates, the Rothschild family controls assets worth more than $350 billion when each of their personal fortunes is combined.

The Rothschild empire had its genesis during the 1760s when a court Jew by the name of Mayer Amschel Rothschild founded a banking business in his native country, Germany. As a court Jew, Rothschild managed finances for the German Royals in exchange for certain social privileges such as living at court or outside of the Jewish ghettos. Over time and with the help of Mayer Rothschild's five sons, the family business expanded throughout several European countries. During 1815 and 1914, the Rothschilds controlled the world’s largest bank. Fast forward to more than two centuries, the Rothschild name is still synonymous with wealth and influence. In a 2005 issue of Forbesmagazine, Mayer Rothschild ranked seventh on a list of the twenty most influential businessmen of all time. Here is an overview of how the Rothschilds became the world’s wealthiest family.

Early Life and Career of Mayer Rothschild

The Rothschild’s story of power and riches began with the humble beginnings of its founder, Mayer Rothschild. Born in 1744, Mayer Rothschild was raised in a Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt, Germany. During that era, Jews were legally required to live in small communities that were distant from Christians. They were also not allowed to leave their villages on Christian holidays, Sundays or at night.

As a child, Rothschild lived in a full house with about 30 other family members. Rothschild learned about the business world at an early age—his father, Amschel Moses Rothschild, traded coins, silk and other commodities for a living. One of Amschel Rothschild's clients was the Prince of Hesse.

Mayer Rothschild became an orphan at the age of 12 following the death of his mother. His father had died from smallpox the year before. Before their passing, Rothschild’s parents wanted their son to study Jewish teaching to become a Rabbi. However, he decided to take on an apprenticeship with a banking firm in Hanover, Germany shortly after turning thirteen. The firm was operated by Court Jews who furnished credit to European royalty. During his time there, Rothschild learned the ins and outs of banking and foreign trade. (See also, The 5 Most Influential Bankers Of All Time.)

Rothschild Banking Empire is Formed

Rothschild returned to his hometown, Frankfurt, when he turned 19-years-old. He along with his brothers continued the commodities and money trading business that their father started. Rothschild also continued his career as a court Jew. By 1769, Rothschild was given the title "Crown Agent" which helped to further establish him as a credible Court Jew among German royalty. He provided banking services to a number of nobles in Europe including Crown Prince Wilhelm of Hesse, who later became the continent's richest man. In 1770, Rothschild married the daughter of another Court Jew. The dowry received from the marriage helped to increase Rothschild's wealth. The couple had ten children–five sons and five daughters. All of their sons later contributed to expanding the Rothschild banking empire.

Expanding and Controlling the Rothschild Footprint

The Rothschild banking empire benefited tremendously from the French Revolution. During the war, the Austrian army contracted Rothschild to supply it with a range of items including wheat, uniforms, horses, and equipment. He also facilitated monetary transactions for Hessian mercenaries. Around that time, Rothschild sent his five sons to live in the capital cities of various European countries. His goal was to have each of his children establish a banking business in Frankfurt, Naples, Vienna, Paris, and London.

In 1798 Mayer Rothschild's oldest son, Nathan Rothschild moved to London, England. There he founded a textile jobbing business with £20,000 of working capital, which in today's terms is equivalent to £1.9 million. Nathan Rothschild later founded a bank which became N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd. The firm is the country's seventh oldest bank in continuous operation. Although privately held and still controlled by the Rothschild family, N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd. reported a net profit of £34 million at the end of 2014. Like the other Rothschild banks that were subsequently set up throughout Europe, N M Rothschild & Sons furnished credit to the government during times of war and crisis. During Napoleon's French Revolution, N M Rothschild & Sons managed and financed various subsidies that the British government sent to its different allies.

Before he died, Mayer Rothschild left strict rules for his descendants on how they should handle the family's finances. For example, Rothschild wanted to keep the fortune within the family and as such encouraged the arrangement of marriages among Rothschild relatives. According to an article published in the August 2003 issue of Discover magazine entitled "Go Ahead, Kiss Your Cousin", writer, Richar Conniff states, "Mayer Amschel Rothschild, founder of the banking family arranged his affairs so that cousin marriages among his descendants were inevitable. His will barred female descendants from any direct inheritance. Without an inheritance, female Rothschilds had few possible marriage partners of the same religion and suitable economic and social stature—except other Rothschilds. Rothschild brides bound the family together. Four of Mayer's granddaughters married grandsons, and one married her uncle. These were hardly people whose mate choice was limited by the distance they could walk on their day off."

The Rothschild Family in the 21st Century

It is estimated that the Rothschild family controls more than $350 billion worth of assets. The family wealth has been divided among many descendants throughout the years. There are a few Rothschild owned financial institutions still operating in Europe including N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd, in the United Kingdom, and Edmond de Rothschild Group, in Switzerland. The family also owns more than a dozen wineries in North America, Europe, South America, South Africa and Australia. (See also, 5 Of The World's Oldest Companies.)

The Bottom Line

With a combined fortune worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the Rothschilds are the wealthiest family to have ever lived. The origin of the family’s massive fortune comes from a German banking business that was established during the 18th century by Mayer Amschel Rothschild. By the 19th century, the business had expanded to England, France, Austria and Italy with one of Mayer Rothschild’s five sons overseeing operations in each country. For more than two centuries, the Rothschild wealth has slowly declined because it has been divided and passed down to hundreds of heirs. With that said, the Rothschild empire is still substantial. Today, it spans across a number of diverse industries including financial services, real estate, mining, energy and even charitable work.

What are some awesome Hollywood movies which haven't been released in India? by Rahul Singh

Hollywood or Foreign films never fail to impress us with its fine charm and impressive story-telling. Even if a lot of movies release after they get nominated for the Oscars, (for example, Whiplash) and we end up catching up with most of these films in India, there are some which never make it to the big theater screens.

Here are some movies from different genres that we didn’t get to watch on the big screen, but we REALLY wish they could make it.

1. The Dreamers (2003)

Set in Paris in 1968, the movie revolves around a young American student who bonds with a French brother and sister.

A movie stamped with controversy all over it, The Dreamers, set in Paris in 1968 against the background of the student riots, it explores the radicalism at that time through three characters - a young American student who bonds with a French brother and sister and find a bizarre interior world of their own. It is best to leave it to the French to explore l'amour in all its myriad possibilities!

(On second thought, the Indian censor board would have gone batshit removing scenes from that movie in India)

2. Dope (2015)

It revolves around Malcolm, a geek who holds big dreams and is carefully surviving in a neighbourhood filled with gangsters and drug dealers.

Unique, refreshing, and respectful of its characters and their cultures, Dope is pure entertainment with three of its main characters in a band making some amazing music. The movie talks about Malcolm, a geek, who is carefully surviving a tough neighbourhood filled with gangsters and drug dealers. An invitation to a big underground party leads Malcolm and his friends into a gritty adventure filled with bad choices. Dope is a surprisingly optimistic film- something we really needed on the big screen.

3. The Book of Life (2014)

The movie is about a man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart.

A beautiful animated film which will make you laugh and cry in parts, The Book of Life is about a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. He ends up embarking on a thrilling adventure making it an excellent movie for kids and an even better one for adults.

4. Frank (2014)

This movie revolves around a young man who joins a pop band led by the mysterious Frank.

Michael Fassbender sports a huge paper mache type head in this movie and totally nails it. Frank, with its effortless comedy, non-pretentious dialogues and elegant performances is a weird but extremely honest movie.

5. Obvious Child (2014)

It is about a stand-up comedian who gets pregnant from a one-night-stand.

It is difficult to offer honest comedy these days given movies have to take into account what sells and what does not. The story follows Donna, a stand-up comedian, who has a drunken one-night stand with a guy after breaking up with her boyfriend, subsequently finds out she is pregnant and decides to have an abortion. Obvious Child is funny, careless, honest, and an incredibly effective real film which attempts at removing the stigma around abortion.

6. Under the Skin (2013)

Scarlett Johansson packs some beautiful performance in this sci-fi as an alien seductress.

This 2013 science-fiction-horror-art film starring Scarlett Johansson, where she plays the role of an alien seductress, had some kickass performance we missed on the big screen. She sure kicked some serious super villain ass in Lucy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and seeing her hit the big screen in another sci-fi would have been a pleasure.

7. In The Loop (2009)

This movie is a political satire about a group of skeptical American and British operatives attempting to prevent war between the two countries.

Starring the kickass Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, this movie is a gripping and fine political satire about a group of skeptical American and a British operatives, who are group trying to prevent war between the two countries. Funny and true, it sure gets you in the loop!

8. Lars And The Real Girl (2007)

Starring Ryan Gosling, this is a touching story of a boy who gets attached to a doll he finds on the internet.

With Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider starring in the movie, it already makes for a worthy watch. A young delusional boy warms up to a doll he finds on the internet and builds an unconventional relationship with her - watch it for the humour or the humanity!

9. Anomalisa (2015)

It talks about a man who is crippled by life's mundanity and experiences something out of the box.

Charlie Kaufman's stop-motion romance, Anomalisa, talks about a man who is crippled by life's mundanity and experiences something out of the box. Kaufman, with movies like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche New York to his name, successfully came up with another work of genius.

10. Garden State (2004)

It revolves around a man who returns home after a decade for his mother's funeral, meets the love of his life, and takes some decisions to make his life better.

Starring Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard and Natalie Portman, Garden State is a movie that talks about a troubled young man, who returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade, meets his love, decides to forgive his past and make his life better - through this plot, the movie defines a generation. It is only shameful that it did not release in India.

11. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

This movie starts with a man who puts a classified ad in the newspaper asking for a companion to time-travel.

Safety Not Guaranteed guarantees sci-fi + fantasy + comedy + real-life relationships. The movie revolves around a man who puts a classified ad in the newspaper asking for a companion to time-travel with when a magazine writer and two interns go and find him to find out his story. An absolutely joyful watch, wish it released in India.

12. Enough Said (2013)

Revolving around the story of a woman torn between two people, this movie takes us through her dilemma.

Considering James Gandolfini is dead now and we'll never get any more movies from him, this movie by him is one that we really regret did not release in India. Revolving around the story of a woman torn between two people, it deals with a dilemma and feels like a story so real that anyone could connect to it. We can never really get enough of it.

13. Calvary (2014)

This Brandon Gleeson starrer is about a priest who must battle the dark forces closing in around him.

A very powerful and touching movie + absolutely great script + funny comebacks + terrifyingly beautiful and sharp monologs + complex questions + Brendan Gleeson. Need I say more?

14. Blue Ruin (2013)

It is a thriller crime drama that deals with an outsider whose life turns upside down for vengeance's sake.

What this thriller crime drama gives you isn't actually plot twists, instead, it is merely plot developments presented in a story that is told in a fashion that is non-linear. This Indie drama is a slow burner - a quiet film with a pretty loud impact.

15. Juno (2007)

This movie talks about a young girl getting pregnant and how she chose to deal with it.

Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, this movie is about an offbeat young girl who gets pregnant but does not let societal pressure decide what to do with her baby. Lightweight, cutesy and offbeat, we wish it released in India.

16. Submarine (2010)

It deals with the story of a teenager and explores his life with interesting insights.

A wonderfully engaging film, it deals with the problems of teenage anxiety, communication problems and mentality with sharp insights. Displaying immense versatility and courage, filmmaker Richard Ayoage takes us through a powerfully gripping journey in the movie.

17. Cloverfield (2008)

A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.

Cloverfield follows five New Yorkers from the perspective of a found-footage. The movie starts with the monster of an unknown origin destroying a building. But when they go to investigate, parts of the building and the head of the Statue of Liberty come raining down. The movie follows their adventure trying to escape and save a friend. Cloverfield happened when J.J. Abrams thought America needs a "new monster."

Well, turns out there's a secret sequel coming out this March. *fingers crossed* And we really hope it releases in India.