I don't like to brag often, but...

[Senn555 242]

Well, here you go. Have this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taken Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Vancouver BC, Canada

 

I'm on the right, and yes, that's Daniel Ingram on the left. I travel to the west coast to Seattle and Vancouver every summer for a two-week holiday, and after becoming an MLP:FiM fanatic I thought I would try to meet up with Daniel, just for a brief, five-minute conversation and to get a photo taken. It almost didn't happen because he was busy, but I had gifts that I wanted to give to him; I corresponded with him through phone and e-mail, and he set up an arrangement for me to drop by his studio on Tuesday the 19th and give the gifts to his assistant.

 

When I woke up the following day, I had an e-mail in my inbox; Daniel's assistant had forgotten to give me gifts of his own he wanted me to have. My dad, sister and I were already committed to doing some shopping/running around in Burnaby that day, so I returned to the studio on Thursday. Daniel actually wanted me to meet up at a Starbucks a block away... then this picture happened. :3

 

I had initially planned on giving Daniel one present, which was a brand new copy of the Brave Little Toaster soundtrack CD (I bought up ten copies for myself and friends back in May 2010; I don't have any more spares, but you can check it out here: http://www.screenarc...LITTLE-TOASTER/); however, I hit up the HMV Megastore downtown a couple days prior and I found DVDs of the movie itself priced as part of a Buy 4 for $20 deal. I bought four copies of the movie and gave one to Daniel along with the soundtrack CD.

 

In return (as thanks for being a fan, not for the gifts), Daniel gave to me - in person - photocopies of the sheet music for two of his songs: Pinkie's Laughter Song (Giggle at the Ghostly), and the Cutie Mark Crusaders song (my favorite song from the show because it's 80s power-rock cheese~). I'm not allowed to post the sheet music online for legal reasons, sorry.

 

It was definitely one of the highlights of this year's holiday - the other one was getting to meet with a female grade school classmate (now my best friend) for the first time in seven or eight years.

 

I hope to meet with Will Anderson one day as well, though I have no imminent plans to visit south California. I need more time and money for that.

[Swoop 2,278]

Haha wow lucky you! That was nice of him to meet up with you personally, not to mention the free sheet music he gave you. As for your choice of gift, I loved the little toaster as a kid, as well as the soundtrack (especially the piece for the main title). Awesome choice, i'm sure he'll love it.

[Plasmastorm X-15 162]

Whats Little Toaster?

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

You lucky pony, I would love to meet Mr. Ingram.

What he gave you sounds pretty awesome, too bad you can't show it.

So did you get those sheet things or whatever they're called prior to the CMC episode being released (I assume Ep2 was out )?

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

Awesome stuff!

 

Judging by the topic title, I was expecting "I don't like to brag often, but when I do, it's because I met Daniel Ingram. Stay envious, my bronies."

[Marshmallow 1,137]

In return (as thanks for being a fan, not for the gifts), Daniel gave to me - in person - photocopies of the sheet music for two of his songs: Pinkie's Laughter Song (Giggle at the Ghostly), and the Cutie Mark Crusaders song (my favorite song from the show because it's 80s power-rock cheese~). I'm not allowed to post the sheet music online for legal reasons, sorry.

 

I'm so jealous!!!!

Sucks that you can't post them online

[Slendermane 477]

Whats Little Toaster?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brave_Little_Toaster_%28film%29

 

It is an animated movie for kids. I used to watch it when I was younger. It is surprisingly dark for a kids movie.

[Senn555 242]

As for your choice of gift, I loved the little toaster as a kid, as well as the soundtrack (especially the piece for the main title). Awesome choice, i'm sure he'll love it.

 

David Newman is my favorite film music composer; his music just has such a heartfelt, human, emotional quality to it. It's much like James Horner's The Land Before Time in the sense that I don't listen to it very often because it tears me up - but whenever I do, it's such an experience in itself.

 

For those not in the know: Brave Little Toaster was a 1987 animated film, and much of its animation staff later went on to work at popular projects for Disney and Pixar - the names roster includes Mark Dindal, Chris Buck, Kevin Lima, Rob Minkoff, Kirk Wise, and Joe Ranft (most famous for screenwriting The Lion King and Toy Story - he died in a car crash six years ago in the middle of production for Cars). John Lasseter was also involved in pitching the idea of the movie to Disney executives (which they turned down - the movie was produced independently by Hyperion Pictures, but Disney picked up the distribution rights). The Wikipedia article goes into much more detail about its production and history, of course.

 

 

So did you get those sheet things or whatever they're called prior to the CMC episode being released (I assume Ep2 was out )?

 

Again, this was back in July - season one officially wrapped up in May, though season 2 didn't begin until mid-September.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,527]

Wow, you were incredibly fortunate to have had a chance to meet Daniel, Senn! So awesome of him to even let you have copies of two FiM songs. I hope the two of you really enjoyed the time you had together. To think I've lived in Vancouver for seven years and it never even crossed my mind to try and meet up with some of the show's staff...

 

May I ask, how exactly did you go about organizing your visit? Did you just send Daniel an email telling him you'd be in town and wanted to meet up? I imagine he's awfully busy, and you're far from the only person who'd love to meet him.

[Senn555 242]

May I ask, how exactly did you go about organizing your visit? Did you just send Daniel an email telling him you'd be in town and wanted to meet up? I imagine he's awfully busy, and you're far from the only person who'd love to meet him.

I actually looked up his name and number in the local phone directory when I got into Vancouver and I called him - I'm not a phone person and I was really nervous doing it, but he was really swell about it all. He *was* busy and told me to call back in a week the first time I spoke with him (which wasn't a problem because I called him in the morning on a Tuesday right before heading to Seattle for the rest of the week - I called him back six days later on a Monday).

 

I had originally wanted to meet at a nearby restaurant (probably Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co) and buy him lunch or a coffee, but that didn't pan out - I actually hadn't put much thought into how I wanted to meet up at first, and I guess doing that might have been overboard (especially because Daniel couldn't talk about season 2 at the time), so in the end we settled for a quick five minute thing outside of a Starbucks.

 

I bunk at my uncle's penthouse apartment whenever we're in Vancouver and he lives just a block away from Davie Street downtown - Daniel's studio is on Arbutus near the beachside. It takes me 20-30 minutes to get there by foot, which includes taking the boat across the lake from the downtown port to the Maritime Museum.

 

(You can actually find his phone number and studio address online if you know where to look...)

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

I had no idea members of the staff of My Little Pony were so accessible. I keep having this mentality from Valve Software, whom are very good at both listening very carefully to their community, and at the same time not letting anything on about what they do behind some of their doors.

 

I have the benefit of living in Maple Ridge, not far from Vancouver. Wonder if I should strike up the curiosity to inquire about something myself.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Blue