Series two lesson two of Free Association's improv course is about a thing they call "grounding".
For a scene to be believable, it must be grounded in reality (or in a fantastical scene at least grounded in an emotional truth).
Improvisors can often jump quickly to the bizarre or the outlandish to try and get a laugh, but especially in early in scenes the audience needs to first know who these people are and what is going on and why they should care about any of it.
Three hours of scenes deliberately drilling practice of to have nothing strange or out of context happening, scenes in which everything goes according to expectation and nobody tries to be funny.
A useful skill to drill perhaps, but you can see why Free Association get a reputation for being too serious and not laughing enough.
Three hours of scenes where mostly nothing happens might be the most dull improv evening I've had.
Ribs? 💀 😱
Processed, cropped MCZ_RIGHT, FL: 110mm
looking ENE (62°) from RMC 85.0000
Sol 1769, LMST: 10:15:16
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01769/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZR0_1769_0823974245_693EBY_N0850000ZCAM09820_1100LMJ01.png
Once upon a time in the west
(outside Jezero Crater, Mars, second half of 19th century, imaged by a time traveler 🙃 )
Over-processed NAVCAM_LEFT
looking SE (144°) from RMC 84.0000
Sol 1764, LMST: 12:48:09
Trailer Bunny https://trailers.zouluvo.com/bunny/
#BenJacobson #MoStark #LizaColby #ÉtatsUnis #14novembre2025 #2025 #novembre2025 #comédie #drame #thriller #FreeAssociation #caché #cadavre #amitié #nuit #voisinage #secret #panique #suspense #solidarité #survie #mensonge #tension #stratégie #improvisation #crime #erreur #quartier #complicité #détresse #fuite #morale #esprit #peur
Hoodie
(no one inside, or, if there was one, now it's dust in the wind 😱 )
Processed MCZ_LEFT, FL: 110mm
looking SSE (162°) from RMC 79.0870
Sol 1644, LMST: 11:59:31
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/65dBnoise
Footprint of a Martian monster
#freeAssociation 🙃 😄
Processed MCZ_LEFT, FL: 110mm
looking ESE (106°) from RMC 79.0488
Sol 1629, LMST: 12:12:53
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/65dBnoise
#Perseverance sent a message for this #4thOfJuly:
"[…] it is the Right of the People […], it is their duty, to throw off such [Despotic] Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." ¹
#FreeAssociation collage of processed SHERLOC_WATSON images, looking E (93°) from RMC 76.0000
Sol 1548, LMST: 17:45:14
Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01548/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1548_0804382824_339EBY_N0760000SRLC07070_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01548/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1548_0804382961_410EBY_N0760000SRLC07071_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01548/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1548_0804383254_164EBY_N0760000SRLC07072_0000LMJ01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Have you been stranded on a Mars orbit waiting for some billionaire pedo-guy to satisfy his narcisism and allow HAL 9000 to fire the engines to bring you back to Terra? (#SciFi)
Well, don't fret. There's plenty of scenery for you to enjoy w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶d̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ while waiting, like this view of Arsia Mons, an ancient Martian volcano, which was captured before dawn on May 2, 2025, by #NASA’s 2001 #MarsOdyssey:
Guillotine
Unknown use on Mars; last used in France in 1977, to execute a child murderer. No, #Netanyahu is alive and wanted by the #ICC for murdering thousands of #Palestinian children and other #warCrimes.
#FreeAssociation blurred by #reality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine
Processed MCZ_LEFT, FL: 110mm
looking WSW (248°) from RMC 74.0000
Sol 1515, LMST: 12:04:27
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/65dBnoise
Adam Dalliance
65dBnoise
Stephane N
viNomadic