What entertainment options are there in a SHTF?

reply to post by daaskapital


True, entertainment + exercise = sports

Very beneficial.

But every now and then, I think humans need mindless entertainment...like movies.

But it can make a person think, without the exercise.

I am supposing that a community has been established.

In a SHTF situation I'd agree with the movie suggestion and offer two ideas to help make that possible with a Laptop.

Upgrade your laptop as a part of your preparation process with an SSD drive. That stands for Solid State and it's special because it has no moving parts and generates almost no heat compared to it's magnetic predecessor. The speed difference is staggering, but the important part here is that battery life on the Laptop is increased dramatically.

Second, buy a cheap 150 Watt inverter from Walmart or a local truck stop. It doesn't take much to charge your phone, laptop or whatever else. The one I have here is 150w and has 2 110v plugs with an additional USB port strictly for charging purposes. As I recall, it cost me $40 or something at a Pilot. It plugs into a cigarette lighter and as long as you have a running vehicle, you have the means to recharge anything you own without hunting for more than it's AC wall plug.

I used my Laptop while trucking to watch movies and I'd get about 90 minutes...roughly 2 TV episodes to whatever I was watching..without any power issues. That was running off the DVD drive, so it was spinning for the streaming of the show.

Just a suggestion of making the best out of VERY limited resources in a real SHTF situation.

Originally posted by CaptChaos
The very idea that you think in a SHTF scenario you would waste time and electricity on seeing a Hollywood movie, proves that you will not be one of the ones who lives to see that day.

I'm sure after WW III when everyone is fighting over grubs and maggots to eat, most people will be just dying to spend effort watching a piece of the giant propaganda machine that led them to be eating maggots. Yep.

I believe it is up to fate. I have my plan to get back to family if the SHTF if it happens before I actually get back.

But there should be some fun in a life...even in the worst of times. In my mind, movies were just a idea. And they must be chosen well, to keep peoples minds sharp and their morale up.

A village play, as mentioned before may be a even better idea.

But in my opinion, this will only happen in the smaller towns that have a natural defensive perimeter.

Originally posted by Destinyone
Not going to waste generator on a movie. Instead, on movie night, it will be contest night... see who can dress the cats and dogs in the best outfits. My old.business clothes will come in handy then...

Des

Oh them poor, poor amimals.

But yep, that would be entertaining....at least on a personal level.

Originally posted by cloaked4u
What about doing a play. People could make a play based on what TPTB and how they ruined the world because of greed and what it does to people. Teach our children and entertain at the same time. Ever go to a play, now immagine that around a campfire.

The three letter word is always fun entertainment and you pro create at the same time.

We did this before electricity and we sure will after like we have for thousands of years. Hell, even the cave man did the three letter word one for entertainment.

Rabbits do it too and the real good in it all, is that we can start a new and be happy too. To the beat of BENNY HILL.

Just stick with The Ball in a Cup... Imported from Mexico!

reply to post by TDawgRex


My question is simply how the hell are we to power a generator lmao

but in the spirit of good conversation I would have to say that the only thing I would ever wish to see through a means that directly connects me to the world before it happened would be old personal family home videos. A spiritual push if you will...

reply to post by 7thcavtrooper


the only easy day was yesterday now get to work, Hooooooah!!!

Watch "A Boy and His Dog" for post-apocalypse entertainment venues. In the movie they have communities which trade film viewings for canned foods. Few other things in this cult classic with Don Johnson. People will always find a way to be distracted through entertainment of some form, just depends on your idea of how long the S stays on the fan blades after impacting them.

Ebooks of various kinds.

Ebook readers last ages (usually about 10k page turns) and can be charged easily. (During a simulated bug out, I connected a solar panel from a camp light to a battery charger (4xAA's) which had a usb port, it never went flat and was used often)

You can take virtually anything from text books, medical manuals, fiction and even magazines.
Try using Calibre 2 library manager to convert ebooks to your format of choice. Converting PDF's slims them down a lot. You can also take RPG game materials with you, throw in a handful of dice and you have entertainment for hours.

I'd go with the ebook reader idea and a solar charger, or use an ipod (with solar charger) instead and watch movies on that.

For non-technical entertainment I would suggest getting a deck of plant photo playing cards, such as the Shanleya's Quest Card Game offered by Thomas J. Elpel, so that your family can play games and learn survival skills at the same time - mainly how to identify plants.

Also, you can have some board games, a chess board, dominoes, jacks, a jump rope, some string for playing cat's cradle, stuff for making crafts (making things you may need), good books on making home made alcohol and the equipment to do so (The Alaskan Bootleggers' Bible is recommended by nearly all homebrewers, winemakers and preppers), some yo-yos, puzzles and mind puzzles like Rubick's Cube, puzzle books, coloring books, art supplies, a soccer ball, a beach ball, a baseball and gloves, a football, golf balls and clubs (for indoors putting), a children's indoor bowling set and maybe even one of them kid's pool tables. You can also play cherades, put on sock puppet plays, create actual plays and put them on, play instruments, do just about anything Nerf (if stuck inside), and really the suggestions never end. There is so much to do entertainment wise that you really oughta try to make it both entertaining and educational if it is a SHTF scenario.

If it is TEOTWAWKI, then you can bet it would be greatly profitable to go the education route. Get puzzles and books and games and models that teach botany, mycology, chemistry, geology and minerology, basic survival skills, human anatomy, botanical medicine, tracking, hunting, fishing and horticulture. Then picks some trades to have everyone learn such as: electronics, woodworking, machine mechanics, optical engineering, culinary art, plumbing and heating, structural engineering, etc. In a TEOTWAWKI scenario you should make sure your family knows a little bit about everything necessary for survival and then work on (and if possible do it beforehand) making each individual an expert in a certain field or fields. Education can be fun, and in fact most non-technical fun has an educational bent to it. Movies, on the other hand, are usually mindless, and all you learn from them is what you were intended to take away rather than what you picked up on your own.

If you want morale from movies, have a couple basic mindless movies (everyone's favorites), family home videos, documentaries, and lots and lots of DIY videos. Nothing lifts morale like learning something and then accomplishing something based on that knowledge.

reply to post by TDawgRex


I have to admit that movie night seems a little far fetched for a STHF or even Post SHTF senerio, fuel of all kinds is to presious to waste showing The Naked Gun or Airplane to cheer people up, however this is something i have put some thought into.
Personaly i have put some very small and simple entertainment/occupational/educating items into my BOB/home survival supplys, I have a travel sized battleship game, a travel cribage board, travel chekers board, travel GO game-(best stratagy game ever by the way only 3000 years old), multiple card decks, card game book by Hoyle, multiple dice sets, citizens handbook, bible, pocket sized constitution from the Kayto Institute. All of these combined are very small, very portable, and very very lite, yet offers hours of distraction and entertainment and education for old and most important young, with a family its a must to keep your kids occupied in a positive and educational way to distract from what is most likely a very dire situation.

I'd pick an episode of The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. I'd be limiting that alcohol though, in case some uber-stressed adult takes a fit of melancholy then goes mad with a gun.

There won't be any generators.
Who has the time for entertainment when you're doing back breaking work trying to keep your sustainable community running smoothly while keeping it safe from intruders?
The only reasons for entertainment is to keep the kids from getting in the way and stop the "I'm bored" talk and whining.
Cards, kick the can, dominoes, and anything else that doesn't include electricity and instructions is the way to go.
When the SHTF, most people will choose to sleep instead of entertainment -- until it's time to switch shifts that is while the others sleep.

Originally posted by Afterthought
Who has the time for entertainment when you're doing back breaking work trying to keep your sustainable community running smoothly while keeping it safe from intruders?

If you don't take off your mind of all the bad things you every once in a while, you go crazy.
Don't you think there was a good reason, why during the second world war they still produced movies, Cinemas operated, sport events and music concerts were held?
If you really believe that people will adapt to a "All Work, no Life" scenario, than you're mistaken. Especially in this day and age when we are surrounded by entertainment in all kind of forms. Something like "working all day" would've worked 100 years ago when there weren't video games, hardly any movies and not much else to do, except for maybe reading a book.

And if you believe that everything will be just like in those crap movies like The Day After with a half-functioning society that helps out and everybody teaches something to the others, than your mistaken. What you will get is a lot of fighting, murder, rape, destruction. All those fantasies of the people here in this forum about building up a fort with other people, grow food, teach things and whatnot is straight out of the Fallout games, it will never work that way.

Personally, if this situation will occur (and i strongly doubt it will) i just barricade myself in the basement with enough whiskey, some generators to power up my entertainment stuff and i will drink, dance and party all night until i die. Why should i want to continue living in a world that's not worth living for?

zombie apocalypse would be exciting . I'm meeting my friends at Caumsett park when SHTF and there's this humongous tree we will climb to avoid confrontation with zombies lol

reply to post by TDawgRex


Q: What entertainment options are there in a SHTF?
A:

You sit around the fire and tell stories and share knowledge
it happens to be much more satisfying and rewarding than you might guess until you give it a chance

I think I would seriously consider eating the person who tries to organize "movie night"

I don't think you are thinking this through all of the way. Movie night?
Try, "hey buddy, you look tired and that wound looks bad... why don't you go lay down and try to sleep?" So we can eat you later.