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“He who never made a mistake never made a discovery. ” 

I love this quote quite frankly; it says it all. I hope this past weekend, I didn’t make a mistake with my forthcoming book.

In the weeks after two wildly lucky winners in Missouri and Arizona divvied up the $600 million Powerball jackpot, I found myself enviously pondering, as I tore up two my December Starbucks allowance, what I would do if I woke up one day with an extra $300 million in the piggy bank. While I was doing that I received this email:

From: maggie, the book editor assistant [mailto:xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 1:17 PM
To: ‘Michael Lloyd’
Subject: RE: Lloyd Book Changes #41


Michael,
Happy New Year! Just hung up with Amazon and we are awaiting Landscapes to go to press. I know we’ve asked for an interminable amount of changes, but we need to shorten the six weeks we gave you to bring it all to final AND we need the new layout by Jan. 25th. Get back to me when you can and, uhm, no pressure,
Maggie

Well, happy new years to you too, Maggie! When you get an email like that, what’s a Media Guy to do? I mean, I was still planning what to do with my first hundred mil… I’m fairly certain that ]I would not have poured it Lakers season tickets or JCPenney stock — my first order of business might have been finding a Westwood apartment with a few bedrooms, and maybe donating ten million or so to charity. But now I just had to get to work. I sequestered myself away from humanity and whacked my 250-page Landscapes of Life tome down to under a hundred pages. Really taking a book like this from 160 photos down to 90 was akin to choosing which of your children you love the most.

The new book cover designed by Anna Aladadyan.

I guess it could have been worse. Take a look at who didn’t make the cut elsewhere:

• 12 proposed U.S. states that didn’t make the cut 
• Forbes 400 Drop-offs: Those Who Didn’t Make The Cut
• Sorry Jill, you didn’t make the cut 

Anyway, I bring this up to honor five of my favorite photos that didn’t make the cut for the book. Without further ado…

5. RAZI. When you see images from the Middle East and similar places in Afghanistan and India, women are often depicted as rights deficient thirsty from the parched climate of domineering men whom seek to enslave their every whim: No shoes. Six to 10 children in tow, once always attached to the hip. Each woman with the same “help me” look sewn into her face. Razi, shown here, explores the beauty that multiplies from within. The picture seems to show her emerging from a cocoon ready to embrace the world and have it embrace her back. Her expression emotes innocent confidence and traces of power that we hope will be realized along with her dreams.

4, ABANDONED. Living in the bigger cities typically doesn’t give you the access to large areas that lack the residue of human activity. While traveling in Salalah, such a place exists near what would be the equivalent of prime beach real estate in Malibu. These hand-built row of ancient tract homes still stood tall, yet uninhabited as if they were resistant to the atomic bomb that surely must have detonated here. The area begged for answers. Who lived here? How did they live? What would make an entire town move en force?

3. THE LONG MARCH. On my way to Wadi Rum, the desert run where Lawrence of Arabia led the Arab Revolt, I spotted these two Bedouin trekking forward. I love the way they are walking while a truckload of people move past them; two generations of transportation dueling in opposite directions. The questions loom: How long was their trek? Where were they going? How hot were they in their black abayas on a hot desert afternoon?

2. NORIAS OF HAMA. The water wheels of Syria, aka Norias, have been delivering water to Hama for centuries. They also deliver a soul crushing sound that haunts the ears in a way that no other architecture ever has. Take a listen here.

1. THE MAN OF PALMS. By far my favorite picture that, alas, didn’t make the cut. The Yemani man in his traditional dress sat in this single spot for hours. He was there when I left to visit an abandoned fort. He was there when I came back for lunch. He was there when I ventured out the next morning. Same position. Same happy-go-lucky look on his leather face. He never seemed to move and was more part of the botanical surroundings than the palms he sat among.

With that bittersweet countdown behind me, I now hand of my book to the acclaimed Los Angeles designer An Na who will turn the images and descriptions that did make the cut into a work of art.

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• You are a grounded and fairly even-tempered. You relate to those who can express their emotions easily, and those who cannot. You consider your heart when making decisions, but are mostly head-ruled. Many friends probably come to you for advice, thinking, “Let’s ask Michael what he would do, he is centered and gives good advice.”
• You are artistic and appreciate artistic and cultural endeavors
• Very determined – you will persevere against many obstacles to attain your goals
• Open-minded, you are able to listen to others and see all sides
• Direct when you deal with people – you don’t beat around the bush. If someone asks for your opinion, you will give it honestly.
• Intuitive – you get strong gut feelings about things that are happening to you, to close friends and family, about situations, and you listen to your gut because it has proven right for you to do so. At times, your intuition is strong enough to cause you to wonder, “Am I crazy? Am I overreacting?” to the point of feeling a sense of being able to peer into the future, but you are usually right.
• A bit impulsive – once in a while you do something that causes your friends to exclaim, ‘What the hell was THAT?”
• Not as happy in your job as you would like – – about half the strokes that show this indicate that you would often like to be doing something else.
• Talkative – you have no problem talking to any person or group, and can converse about many topics
• Quick thinker/analytical – you assess situations quickly, sometimes you may even be impatient with others who don’t think as quickly as you do.
• Strokes indicate a lower body pain/injury issue, usually indicated from the end of the spine and down. (It can be something that has healed, such as a broken bone; it can be something that is currently causing pain; OR it can be something that is emerging. It is consistent on all lower zones).
• Can be sensitive to criticism at times, usually about your appearance
• Half the strokes indicate a desire to yield during a conversation or argument and let the other person win, even if you know you are right. It is often a peacekeeping measure.
• When someone tells you that you can’t do something, your response is often, “To hell with you, I’m DOING IT ANYWAY!”
• Strokes indicate pain in the upper zone, usually from the neck up. It can be stress, migraine headaches, neck pain or injury, and so on. Strokes are consistent in all upper zones.
• As an employee, some of your staff may find you a bit tyrannical at times
• You can be stubborn and operate with the attitude, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind’s already made up!”
• Very intelligent
• You are loyal to friends and family
• There is a level of importance to these words for you: Zeus, Wishes, Ice, Paradox, Truth.
• You have a special relationship with the truth – – you always seek to control it. I would surmise that either someone lied to you in a very grand way, or there is something personal that urges you to control the truth. There is a lot of sarcasm associated with truth for you as well, which I don’t see associated with any other thought. Also, somewhat of a hopeful/dreamy element about it, as though it was a great dream for you to always be surrounded by the truth, for you to be able to control the truth around you. But you are aware enough to know that that will not be the case, and so the sarcasm is associated with it. You will know what this is about; all I can see are stroke patterns.
• Self-expectations are met with strict discipline, and you may hide the aspects of your personality that you feel are inadequate.
• When you speak of yourself, you often see yourself as secondary to everyone else, and often place priorities on everyone except yourself. You are prudent and concerned with security. You consider all parts of an equation when making a decision.
• There are also indications of pain/stress in the middle zone, which tend to be stomach, heart, and lung areas. The strokes are consistent across the middle zone.
• You start out trying to be Johnny-by-the-book and doing everything by the rules, but eventually, you often realize that you must find a different way around things to accomplish your goals. You often have a unique way of completing a task, and can be a rule-breaker.
• You can easily segue from topic to topic and connect ideas that others don’t always see as related. You have a great communication skill found in actors, writers, speakers, talk show hosts, etc. How appropriate!
• You are optimistic, a positive trait that augments all others
• You have diplomacy, as I like to say, the ability to tell someone to go to hell so they look forward to making the trip, AND, packing their bags! A great skill to have in any career or business.
• YOUR SIGNATURE: You are much more outgoing in public than is your nature. Often, this is a product of a particular career or job. Your determination shows up strongly here as well, along with a lot of physical energy, and a need to keep some of yourself to yourself by the illegibility in the signature. 

Pretty hot analysis and wildly accurate in so many ways. I cannot wait for my daughter to bring a boy home so we can analyze him. So now you know a little more about me…in exchange, how about liking The Media Guy’s Facebook book page or following me on Twitter?

In the meantime, don’t forget to follow Theresa on Facebook and Twitter until the Crazy Experiences book becomes a reality.

MEDIA GUY SAY: No need for Eastern Philosophy with The Handwriting Sensei around.

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New Book Cover Art

Many of you emailed me regarding my SHEESH! blog where I talked about the frustrations of dealing with book editors and the delays in book publishing. Last week, I received some wonderful news: as part of a two book deal, my “LANDSCAPES OF LIFE: Behind the Lens” (ISBN: 9781622091324) will be out in sixty to ninety days and on sale at Amazon.com and a few other spots — although NOT at Borders, what a shame. There’s even an eBook and audio book in the works that will be available at the iTunes store!

My publisher came up with this for the back cover …

Take a visual journey through the eyes of the makeshift anthropologist. The extraordinary photographs showcased in Landscapes of Life are from of the eyes Michael Lloyd, who snaps at will to capture the moments often missed,  


This remarkable book showcases hundreds of emotions adding up to a panoramic view of life from Los Angeles to Lebanon. You’ll discover heartwarming photographs that perfectly capture the spirit of the mind. 


His subjects, entangled in their emotions, all seem to feel unobserved and safe. We remain unaware about the causes of the passionate feelings of his characters, their experiences before being captured in their apparently agitated and alternating loving moods. 


With images of princesses, camel jockeys, immigrants, and mountain men, husband hunters, interns, people finding inner peace in the Great Pyramid of Egypt and life inside pre-revolution Syria and the constantly perilous Beirut, and more! Landscapes of Life captures the world’s cosmopolitan lifestyles and common living with intimate portraits and the human intimacy inside, where the heart lives. 


Your imagination couples with the writing to create expanded stories behind these photos to embark on an exciting journey. They remind us of film scenes we have never seen. Lloyd’s photos are very expressive, matching the subjects that are filled with exciting details. The observer can’t escape the unique mood highlighted in these photos.

Thanks for the support everyone!

Dust Jacket Art with Book Flaps

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