I'm a judge, so I won't give all my thoughts here.  But I am a fan of REUNION and I do consider it very good choreography.  And let me tell you why.

Great Choreography is not defined by back flips or saber flourishes.  There is another entry that has plenty of those but left me feeling cold and numb.  Good choreography should tell a story unto itself.  The moves selected don't have to be physically impressive feats, they have to simply make you believe the fight is real.  I tend to ding entries on a lack of targeting or a lack of logical combat choices.  I also ding entries that look good but have no build, and are simply, as Kyle would be familiar with, "Spot fests."  I should believe the characters are trying to fight each other, I should believe that the blows they are throwing should have a purpose, and I should believe that the fight behaves according to the rules of the world depicted.

REUNION, does all of that.  I do like the visual style.  But the fight works irrespective of the style.  Take it all away and you still have a fight where the moves performed are true to the characters and the world.

I mention it a few times on the show, but a good fight to look at for inspiration when it comes to fight choreography is the fight between Hector and Achilles in TROY.

On a purely strategic level, it is a joyful blend of realism and fantasy.  That is to say, the moves themselves are a bit fanciful and low percentage, but the body language suggests a real fight.  Foot work, angling, disengagements, transitions, range exploitation are all there.  Brad Pitt fights more like Jersey Joe Wolcott than he does a greek god.  But beyond the moves themselves, the fight tells a story.  Hector is a strategist and a clever one; after losing his spear he baits Achiles in to a closer range BEFORE he draws his sword.  Brad Pitt's Achilles is a physical specimen, with a gas tank that can fight for days.  His fast twitch muscle responses are sublime, as he defends a slice to the leg by flamingo'ing AS he angles off for a counter.  Late in the fight, Hector comes on strong and grazes Achiles, forcing him into a longer fight than he's used to.  Once Achiles realizes Hector won't stop, he baits him by drawing him back and back further.  This, combined with his increasing fatigue, causes Hector to rush Achiles, who finally performs a disarm and a killing blow.

That's a lot of story for one fight.  But combined with both mens performance you gain access to parts of they character that simply won't come out in any other scene.  It's one thing for a character to tell you who they are, its another for a fight to reveal it.

Let's look at another. 

Yes, its an impressive one-er.  But in terms of chore, pay attention to the use of multiple attackers and how he disengages and reengages.  You believe it because everything looks like it hurts.  There's very few flips, not that many high kicks even.  It's not even particularly fast.  What it has though is logic and realism.  And though the story isn't much more than "Where's my fucking elephant?  Up here?  Cool."  You still gain glimpses of Tony Jaa's character through his move set and mannerisms.  Too many of the LCC entries that deal with multiple attackers try to over think it.  Simplicity almost always wins out.

Why do people post themselves on youtube covering their favorite songs?

NONE of the shit they were doing is easy.  It's a physical feet to do that fight move for move, and it's impressive on a filmmaking level to recreate it.  Good of reason as any.  If I were a fight choreographer, and I was hiring, I'd want a meeting with these two.

Panel went really well!  Thanks for asking.  We had about 75 people there I'd say, and we somehow managed a LOT of material in the space of 1 hour.  I've had more than a couple people email me with further questions, which I love.  My panelists did an absolutely bang up job, and we were able to show clips from all their work.  Andie had never publicly shown any of WoWMoM before, same with Jeff Unay and GREYWATER.  All the clips were really helpful and illustrative as well. 

Con was totally great this year.  I had some meetings with Nerdist on Saturday, and we got invited to the massive Legendary Digital party on Friday night.  Got to see some old friends and acquaintances, as well as meet Chris Hardwick, Felicia Day, and Bobek Fedowski.  I briefly chatted with Max Landis and that dude can fucking dance all night.  The show floor was really solid, and I bought some good art and blew waaaaaaay too much money on the 3 foot tall Devastator set from Transformers G1.   I didn't really attend too many panels this year as prepping for mine and making sure I saw the floor kept me plenty busy.  And I gotta say...Nerdist/Legendary Digital knocked it out of the park(ha!) with CONIVAL at Petco Park this year.  There's tons of photos of me and Seanbaby Laser Tagging and doing the joust they had. 

Andie Bolt, one of my panelists, works for GeekNation, so she got us all into the GeekNation party Saturday night.  Ryan, Miki, and some other FIYH family folks were there, and good times were had by all.  Also...serious fucking shout out to Ryan and Miki for being my AV team during the panel.  Love those fuckers.

ALl in all...a really solid year.  It was sorta surreal modding my own panel.  IT only took going to the damn thing for 23 years, but yeah.  It was fun.

God, I hate honest trailers.

FWIW, Junkie XL will be doing a panel at comic con on Film Score, along with like 10 other composers.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jon ends up in a new body somehow.  That would satisfy Kit Harrington being told he was done, and still keep the Azhor Ahai prophecy somewhat intact.

So...gonna get a bit bookish here without spoiling anything, but I think it's worth mentioning. 

We know one thing for certain: Shireen will die in this manner in Winds of Winter.  Benioff and Weiss said as much when GRRM confirmed it to them in the now infamous 3 day weekend of note taking two years ago.  Here's how I don't think it's character assassination in the books, but am having a hard time how we're supposed to feel that way about the show.

All throughout Dance With Dragons (book, not episode) Melisendre goes on at length about how Shireen is a dead girl walking.  That Greyscale never really goes away, it can just lay dormant and that sooner then later it would not only claim her, but everyone around her.  This is aided by the fact that in DwD, Mel is now a POV character.  Characters lie to each other all the time, but never to the reader.  She's been right more often than not, and she truly believes everything she says to Stannis.  Throughout the other books, they talk about the process of legitimizing bastard children, and that Stannis always has time to MAKE an heir.  This, again, is aided by the fact that everyone is aged down in the books.  Dany is 15, same with Jon Snow, Ned was 36 at the time of his beheading, and he was the same age as Robert.  This places Stannis somewhere in his early 30's.  PLENTY of time to make an heir, if not with Selyse, than with some other woman, and Selyse would be more than happy to claim it was hers. 

Now, as for burning Shireen, that lovely scene with them a few episodes back where everyone was all, "best dad ever!"  That never happened in the books.  In fact, we never really see Stannis have much emotion towards anyone or anything.  The most emotion we EVER see him display is when he's talking to Davos and angrily says, "You think I asked to be king?"  In that moment he explains how he really doesn't want to be.  But it's his DUTY to be as Robert's younger brother.  That's how black and white this guy is.  He has to take that responsibility. 

But...that doesn't really come across in the show, now does it?  I'm very curious to 1) see how Shireens death is handled in WoW, and also to see how the show grapples with Stannis from here on out.  Both will be interesting.

*cracks knuckles*  Lets do this.

Fisherman's Wharf  Touristy as fuck but also goddamned gorgeous views of the bay.  You can see Alcatraz, Golden Gate, Berkley, even Oakland.  If you're down with shellfish I recommend Hog Island Oyster Co. (they actually own their own Oyster farm, and everything you eat there was farmed that morning) and Crab House.  That's not far from the....

Embarcadero Which is just goddamned serene.  If you ever want to know why Hitchcock called SF America's Paris, this is part of the reason why. 

Chinatown It is the largest Chinatown in the US, and it actually has real historic value.  And unlike LA's Chinatown, it actually has great Chinese food (OOOhhhh Burn!).  You could easily lose a whole day here.  I don't recommend that because you still need to see..

The Haight  What was the epicenter of the hippie counterculture is now a good cross section of crunchy granola culture and silicon valley bro culture.  Still, there's lots to see and do in the Haight, and that is set evident once you get there.

The Metreon I mean, yes, it's a mall.  But its unlike any mall you've been to.  The food court is better tasting and healthier than most restaurants, the theaters there are great, and it is SPECTACULAR people watching.

Berkley  Would you like a glimpse of a utopian society?  Then take the BART (the subway, which is vastly superior to LA's and like a million times cleaner, except for the Mission District and the Tenderloin).  Trees as green as Oregon, everyone is shockingly friendly, most everyone is of mixed race.  If you need to chill and get away from the city, there's no better place to sip coffee, do some yoga, and/or get blazed as fuck (if that's your thing). 

Everywhere It bears repeating that San Francisco's public transportation is the best on the west coast.  Just get out there man and explore.  It's technically a small city (40 square miles) but its so packed people an deplanes and refreshingly diverse. 

Resteraunts In addition to the two on the Wharf I mentioned, I recommend Tartine Bakery, Ryoko's sushi, Chotto Ramen, La Taqueria. Canela Bistro, Slanted Door, Rich Table.

Literally, every day with my two boys gets me mad hyped.  We forget at that age how every single day is new ground gained in their understanding of the world.  There's so many things about my time with them that's awesome, but I'll share my favorite new thing.

I'm pretty conscious of the level of tech and media that surrounds my kids lives these days, so as much as I can I try to engage their imagination and have as much play as possible center around make believe.  Grayson and I play this game where we lie down on the ground or my bed, and Grayson will say, "Daddy!  Look out!  The biggest monster is coming!"  I then ask him questions on what it looks like.  How many teeth, what color hair, gender, number of elbows, etc.  The combinations alone are pretty hilarious (33 arms but 2 elbows is my favorite so far).  Then once he's described what it looks like, I look through my imaginary Monster Compendium and identify it, ("Oh, that appears to be Plonkirk, The Monster!")  Then, I describe how Grayson must defeat him.  Sometimes it's with jumping punches, and sometimes the monster is just sad and needs a high five or a hug.  I try to keep that part even.  We can, and have, played this game for hours.  And it's the god damned best.

So sorry, Pav.

BATKID BEGINS has a trailer.  I also talked to director Dana Nachman and will be doing a follow up interview with her in the next couple months.