December 6th showing of "Storms of 2005" at OU

[Melissa Moon]

Greetings!

On Tuesday, December 6th at 5 pm, there will be a showing of "Storms of 2005" at Sarkeys Energy Center (Room A235) at the University of Oklahoma during the OU Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society's meeting. Greg Stumpf will be there to speak briefly about the project along with someone from the local American Red Cross (proceeds from Storms 2005 will benefit hurricane victims). Greg will also be selling copies of "Storms 2005", so you won't want to miss this.

There will be snacks and drinks provided at the meeting, but if you are not a dues-paying OUSCAMS member, please bring a dollar to help contribute to refreshment costs if you plan to eat.

Also, in case you missed Greg's message in the Storms of 2005 sticky, there will be an earlier showing of Storms of 2005 on Saturday, December 3rd, 6:30 pm (show starts at 7), at NSSL. This date has changed from the original date (Fri., December 2nd). There will be soft drinks and a popcorn machine at the NSSL showing.

Hope to see everyone there!

 

[Karen Politte]

I just got home from the showing of Storms of 2005 at the Lab - and I must say a very enjoyable evening all around. I felt I needed to put in a word of support about this awesome DVD.

The Storms of 2005 DVD is definitely a must-have for your tornado video library - and would make an ideal Christmas gift for anybody. You will see the most breathtaking tornado footage of the 2005 season - at the very reasonable price of $20 per DVD. Add to that the fact that the majority of the proceeds are donated to the American Red Cross - and I feel that this makes the Storms of 2005 DVD well worth the purchase.

I feel that it is important not to omit the amount of hours that have been plugged into this project by the Producers. Namely: Greg Stumpf, Jim LaDue, Mike Umscheid, Shane Adams, Mickey Ptak, Dave Lewison, Mike Peregrine, Amos Magliocco, Jason Politte and Martin Lisius.

All of those people above have conspired to create one helluva DVD which should be appreciated as one of the most thorough chase videos out there. When minds and efforts come together such as they do in this production - it is very evident. It exudes the blood, sweat and tears of those who care enough about their passion in chasing to have an intrinsic hand in something such as this.

There are too many footage contributors to list - but each and every one of them also deserve an honorable mention for helping this important project come together.

Although every single section was flawless, informative and balanced, my personal opinions are as follows:-

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Each and every section began with a great look back at some of the data for the event in question - surface maps, 500mb, CAPE etc. I felt this was very important and added to the educational aspect of the DVD.

Every section was narrated excellently by each producer with passion and purpose. I greatly appreciate the efforts you all took in this respect.

The music scores were excellent throughout each feature. The track during Mike Peregrine's June 4th section stuck in my mind very well. The music used by Jason Politte during his June 12th section was excellently choreographed and really seemed to convey well a sense atmosphere in relation to what was going on.

There was quite the reaction amongst the crowd at the Lab when the May 12th South Plains TX section came on. Throughout the piece - as we all knew of the impending "creaming" that was about to come for those poor souls involved - everybody present kept giggling and guffawing. It was truly cringe-worthy to watch as the likes of Dave Lewison and Scott McPartland, Shane Adams and crew got mashed by this infamous hailstorm. Some of the hail dents/craters left by what could only be grapefruit sized hailstones were truly hellacious!

Some of the footage of the June 4th Hiawatha KS tornado was quite spectacular! Nice high-contrast funnel with violent debris at the base being whipped around. Greg Stumpf also whispered over my shoulder as he noted some of our good old unbranched lightning around this tornado! 8)

The June 9th Hill City footage by Scott Blair, Eric Nguyen and Amos Magliocco was truly superb! To watch from Scott's angle as the tornado began to drift north at his location as he held his ground was quite spine-chilling. Seeing those outer-bands of rain curtains and atomized rain begin to drift over his location was very tense - he sure has nerves of steel! Amos Magliocco's video of the Trego Center tornado was just magical - what an ethereal beast and what a dramatic view! Well done!

The June 12th South Plains section by Jason Politte had a very well thought out map at its beginning showing the tracks of each tornado, where the section concentrated on, and flagging pictures of the tornadoes along the map tracks. Well done Jason! The video footage in this section from Scott Blair, Amos Magliocco, Jason Politte, Jim Leonard and many others was just excellent......along with serving to remind me of what we missed this day LOL!!! :roll:

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Well - that's about all I can type right now. It's far too late and I'm far too tired. But I felt I had to put in my review of this DVD while it was still fresh in my mind. We bought a copy of it at the Lab this evening - so I hope to watch it again at home here when I can concentrate on it more!

Well done to everybody and thank you for all of your effort in bringing this production together!!! BUY IT!!!!!

Karen Rhoden

 

[Shane Adams]

I'll echo Karen's sentiments as I too am tired and just lazy in general. Being a part of the production, I was privy to sneak previews of each segment in their orignal form as they were completed (on the "stormsof2005" grouplist), so I had seen almost every segment at one time or another. But to see the final product all put together, that was quite a show. Everyone did a great job on this, and I feel we may have opened a can of worms with this one as I'm hearing rumors that folks are already inquiring about a 2006 version.

I'm in.


BTW...Greg thanks for the M&Ms!!!!

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Wish so much I could get down to Norman tomorrow night for this gig ... Going to be a blast -

And thanks Karen ... glad to hear about the sensation this is starting to create - what a terrific cause! I can't wait to get mine in the mail so I can see the entire finished product now. We could all tell during the production process that this was not going to be some kind of half-baked attempt - these guys were all just amazing at how well they could assemble these segments together.

I also LOVE the idea that this is absolutely the PERFECT GIFT to come from any storm chaser - that is just crazy cool. Imagine Uncle Jimmy sending you your very own storm chase video ... they'll think of you everytime they watch (and kids just live for this stuff - lol).

P.S. - told my bro you liked his music. You can actually listen to various music clips, including his, on the DVD web page at: http://www.stormsof2005.org/music/index.html ... I loved everyone's music (had no idea Melissa Moon was such a talented person).

And speaking of music (and everything else for that matter), Greg and Jim both really get kudos on this whole thing. Professionals all the way, they have a real knack for this stuff. Pretty impressive, really. I also wanted to publically thank all my contributors too ... Bill Doms (wow, wow, wow), Shane Adams, Brian Morganti, Glen Romine and Charles Vlcek ... not to mention ALL 50 contributors that did their part to make the best chase video EVER. You guys rock -

I sent an email around to everyone at my firm this morning and placed an ad on our firm Intranet page as well with info on how to get the video. It would be cool to get some email chains going on the project to let people know about it. I worked on my email copy for quite a while, so if anyone would like me to send it to them so they can forward it to everyone in their address list and get the word out, email me at [email protected] and I'll forward it to you.

 

[Melissa Moon]

REMINDER!

The showing of "Storms of 2005" is TODAY at 5 pm at Sarkey's Energy Center room A235. We'll have popcorn and drinks. Sarkeys is the tall red building on the SE corner of Jenkins and Boyd. Address is 100 E. Boyd St. Norman, OK (use http://maps.google.com). The room where we will be watching the DVD is on the NW corner of the building on the 2nd floor (which is actually underground...from the sidewalk running parallel to Jenkins, go DOWN the set of stairs outdoors).

Greg will be there to sell the DVD's for $20.

We'll also be selling our brand new SoM Tshirts for $10 a piece.[/url]

 

[Mickey Ptak]

Everyone,

If you live close to Norman I would not miss this showing. This DVD is a great DVD. Generally when you get a chaser's DVD you tend to get only their perspective view and feelings. Not on this DVD. There were 40 + different chasers that contributed video for this DVD giving you a wide range of views of the storms and Hurricane Katrina.

Check it out tonight and get yourself a copy because it is a must have. If you can’t make it tonight check out the link below to see a preview and order your copy. It is not your typical chase video that I promise you.

http://www.stormsof2005.org/

Mick

 

[Melissa Moon]

Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting. It was awesome!! Go buy the DVD because it is really good!!!