10 pounds of salt? - Live Free or Die (2014) Discussion

[–] mptnla 8 years ago

Haha! I thought the same. I buy my sea salt at the 99 Cent Store; a pound for .99, already dried, in a box, and I don't have to break my back or drive across state.

My date last night was awful. And then he wouldn't even spend the night.

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[–] melovell 8 years ago

Yeah that was stupid, they can get cooking salt/Kosher salt for next to nothing, I think that was a for camera event

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[–] rickathedj 8 years ago

I came here to see if anyone else mentioned this subject. I too was wondering how much they spent on gas, not to mention critical time, to get a few bucks worth of salt. And why didn't they have the salt BEFORE he went hunting. Seems like bad planning to me.

The saga of getting my first novel on Kindle
http://ricksmidnightquill.blogspot.com/

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[–] Purk 8 years ago

Originally Posted by rickathedj:
I too was wondering how much they spent on gas, not to mention critical time, to get a few bucks worth of salt.

Yeah, clearly that was played up for the camera. Basically, if they can drive all the way to the ocean, they can drive to town -- just like they are going to do in the next episode to get the bathtub.

Originally Posted by rickathedj:
And why didn't they have the salt BEFORE he went hunting. Seems like bad planning to me.

That seems to be a common theme. Tony and Amelia needed to build a dehydrator AFTER they processed the deer meat. Same with Thorn and Delia who needed to build a smoker due to running out of "critical" glass jars who, evidently, never before had so much meat that they would need to have enough "critical" glass jars. Meanwhile, Matt is eating a mouse for breakfast and looking for better resources at lower elevation. Colbert has moved away from his own property and is now looking on a quail plantation for coyotes.

BTW, in case anyone missed it, they showed Colbert's land taxes for the year had "spiked" to $93.77 for his 43.86 acres of land. I guess pelts aren't worth as much as I thought if he needs to catch a lot more pelts to pay the Brooks County tax man. Although, I wonder why the word "Paid..." appeared handwritten on the "bill" under his thumb before an envelope was slid over to completely hide that little tidbit. Could it be it would not have jived with the narrative?

Maybe the previous two seasons of the show were better, I don't know I didn't watch them, but four episodes into season three and I'm loosing interest. The ocean salt incident was one thing, but there are production goofs like when Tony was splitting the log to make the legs for the dehydrator. Honestly, if it wasn't for Matt I probably would have deleted the timer by now. I wish Matt had his own show so I wouldn't bother watching this one.

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[–] rickathedj 8 years ago

Yeah, clearly that was played up for the camera.

As we have discussed on the Dual Survival board, they do so much just to create drama. I really wish they wouldn't do that, but I guess they have to do that to maximize their viewership.

The saga of getting my first novel on Kindle
http://ricksmidnightquill.blogspot.com/

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[–] Purk 8 years ago

Originally Posted by rickathedj:
As we have discussed on the Dual Survival board, they do so much just to create drama. I really wish they wouldn't do that, but I guess they have to do that to maximize their viewership.

The peak of the drama happens as they go to a commercial. Take for example this last episode. Oh no, Colbert's property tax might have "spiked", then a commercial. Tony and Amelia might have dropped the glass that the dehydrator physical size was based on, then a commercial. Thorn and Delia running out of "critical" glass jars, then a commercial. Poor Matt he might get wet if his boat doesn't float, then a commercial.

Of course, none of it was as bad as they showed. The property tax appeared to be already paid. The glass didn't break. The smoker saved the day and of course Matt's boat floated. It's right out of the drama playbook, page one. Nothing imaginative or intelligent. Even the swelling music leading up to the break is pointless and the possibility that something bad actually happening after the break is so remote that it's become laughable.

Originally Posted by rickathedj:
I noticed Tony said something about the only place to get salt near their home was the store. Have they taken some kind of vow to avoid retail? And if that's the case, are they producing their own fuel for the truck? If not, why is it ok to buy gasoline but not salt?

Here's how the National Geographic Channel describes the show: Live Free or Die follows five members of a remote but growing American
subculture of self-proclaimed Re-Wilders who’ve vowed to leave the modern
world behind in order to survive in backwoods, deserts, mountains and
swamps by hunting their own food, building their own shelters, and
finding their own water - using only their own two hands, sharp intuition
and time tested methods.I'm not finding that level of conviction from some of the cast members on the show. So naturally I wondered why Tony and Amelia didn't walk, hitchhike or even go by horseback to harvest salt from the ocean. Instead they drove their modern age truck and as you pointed out, likely using the fuel they bought. If they took the truck as a matter of urgent necessity to prevent the deer meat from rotting, then they should have bought the salt in a nearby town.

Basically crapping on the premise of the show, Colbert said, "Living free isn't free, you always need money for something". I guess that includes wasting money on a long unnecessary trip.

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[–] rickathedj 8 years ago

The cutting to commercial with a "cliff hanger" is just writing 101. But Colbert is correct, you always need money for something. If you own the land there will be taxes. The description is also flawed (if you choose the purist definition) because they use tools. Even Matt used store bought tools. I'm not knocking the use of tools, just Nat Geo's description.

The saga of getting my first novel on Kindle
http://ricksmidnightquill.blogspot.com/

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[–] rmontro 8 years ago

And why didn't they have the salt BEFORE he went hunting. Seems like bad planning to me.

That stuff was driving me crazy. The salt, the smoker, the dehydrator, they should have had all that stuff built before they got the meat. What if that meat had gone bad while they were building that stuff? Then killing those animals would have gone to waste, and that would not have looked good.

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[–] rickathedj 8 years ago

My thoughts exactly. Its one thing for a person with a regular lifestyle to go hunting and then discover they have more meat than they have room for in their freezer. If that happens all you have to do is run to Walmart and by a chest freezer. But if your hunting provides ALL the meat you'll get, it would be crazy to go out without being prepared to deal with the meat as soon as you get back.

I noticed Tony said something about the only place to get salt near their home was the store. Have they taken some kind of vow to avoid retail? And if that's the case, are they producing their own fuel for the truck? If not, why is it ok to buy gasoline but not salt? I've only seen the last 2 episodes so I don't know if that has been addressed.

The saga of getting my first novel on Kindle
http://ricksmidnightquill.blogspot.com/

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[–] Alpha86 8 years ago

They converted their diesel engine to run on vegetable oil, so it's not using gasoline to begin with.

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[–] rickathedj 8 years ago

They converted their diesel engine to run on vegetable oil, so it's not using gasoline to begin with.

But they are still using resources. Something to remember is that even if they got the oil for free, it still has value, and that value has to be considered. How many gallons of vegetable oil did they use for their trip? What else could it have been used for? How much time went into collecting and processing the oil? More than the $15 they would have spent to just buy the salt? Even if you don't factor in the risk of the meat spoiling while they were off collecting salt, it seems like a poor use of resources.

The saga of getting my first novel on Kindle
http://ricksmidnightquill.blogspot.com/

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[–] idar-pettersen 8 years ago

In most civilized societies you can get lots of used vegetable oil for free from fast food restaurants etc, who might otherwise even sometimes have to pay to dispose of it legally.

Kudos to Eustace and Preston who ride all over their hills in a truck powered by a wood-burning stove, just like we had trucks re-fitted to also run during WW2 in Norway.
(But even those two buggers chose to ride horses instead of their truck to fetch salt themselves for their own hog-preservation purpose....)

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[–] rickathedj 8 years ago

In most civilized societies you can get lots of used vegetable oil for free from fast food restaurants etc, who might otherwise even sometimes have to pay to dispose of it legally.

That's true, but it still isn't "free" once you factor in the resources to collect it: fuel and time, and the time it takes to process it so it can be used to fuel an engine. When you have to do everything for yourself, your time is like currency. You only have so much of it, so you have to spend it wisely. So the question remains: Was it worth it to use the fuel, which at the very least took time to collect and process, and use it to make a drive of several hours, while meat was risking spoilage, rather than spend a few bucks at the store?

The saga of getting my first novel on Kindle
http://ricksmidnightquill.blogspot.com/

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[–] UncleRob 8 years ago

They converted their diesel engine to run on vegetable oil, so it's not using gasoline to begin with.

That's a valid point, but the central theme of the OP is that the trip was illogical -- time was of the essence and they choose to waste a huge amount of time (and effort) unnecessarily.

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