Copywriting, branding and other mayhem.

The New York Times reported today that the bombs used in the devastating attacks in London last week were advanced military-grade bombs.

The bombs contained only about ten pounds of explosives each, leading officials at first to guess they were crude homemade devices.

Further investigation has led investigators to believe they were either of military or commercial origin, such as the explosives used to demolish buildings.

London was rocked by a coordinated series of terrorist bombings this morning.

A group supposedly affiliated with Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility on its website for the attacks. Targeted at mass transit, the devices were detonated on four subway trains and a bus during Thursday morning’s rush hour.

The blasts began shortly before 9 a.m. and lasted about 45 minutes.

The attacks were claimed to be in retaliation for the UK participation in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Both subway and bus services were stopped as rescue workers tended to those injured.

People have compared these attacks to the horrific blitz attacks during World War II.

For more of this story, see the report in The New York Times.

A Dutch ad agency, 180, has created an arresting new spot for Adidas soccer gear. Called “The Impossible Game” it is reminiscent of The Matrix, fighting on high steel, and maybe a dash of Harry Potter’s Quidditch contests.

Steel girders are the lines of the “air field” in the soccer game. Slip off the girder and you’re toast.

If the visuals don’t hook you, the sound — like clashing sabers — will.

You can read about the spot and watch it at Adland.

There’s a terrific OpEd piece in The New York Times today, timed to coincide with 1) our celebration of our freedoms and 2) the impending replacement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.

She argued in one of her last decisions that the concept of eminent domain as outlined in the constitution mut be taken too far.

Eminent domain is the idea that private property can sometimes be taken by the government if it creates a larger public good, for example, public roads.

But she decried extending this idea too far. D evelopers might take land willy nilly for the greater economic good of the area. This argument could be used to take anyone’s home whenever someone with deep pockets thinks they have a better use for the property.

Unfortunately, Justice O’Connor was on the losing side of the argument, so now eminent domain abuses “for the common good” can flourish.

The OpEd author, John Tierney, is a Pittsburg native. He has watched eminent domain’s abuses ruin a once vibrant downtown. Over five decades in the quest for the modern renewed city, the heart of Pittsburgh — with its homes, families, small businesses, even jazz clubs — has been replaced by cold corporate towers and empty plazas. The people living there and the life of the community have been drained away.

Voila, the Pittsburg Renaissance.

So, as we ponder a replacement for Justice O’Connor, let’s think about Pittsbugh, where its urban renewal policy has been turned into urban destruction.

The Brooke Shields / Tom Cruise battle is heating up. Brooke has posted an Op-Ed piece in The NewYork Times.

Apparently, Mr. Cruise had quite a run-in with Matt Lauer in an interview. He said Ms. Shields and her new memoir about her depression are way off base: postpartum depression is not a real problem. Moreover, said the star, psychiatry and anti-depressive drugs are worthless.

Instead, he suggested vitamins and exercise as cures.

It’s fine to have these opinions Tom, but keep them to yourself, not on national TV. And do not jump up and down on couches while talking like this, as you did the other day.

You know, you may need some meds yourself.

P.S. I believe Mr. Cruise — as some other celebrities (not Brooke Shields though) — is a Scientologist. Years ago, Scientologists actually picketed against anti-depressive drugs. So there is an unpleasant “party line” stink to Tom’s protest.

I’m afraid I have even less faith in Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard,* its sci-fi writing founder, than Tom has in modern psychiatry.

*True Story: Many years ago, Lyle Stuart, the book publisher and L. Ron Hubbard were in a creative writing class together.

As they pondered their future writing careers, L. Ron said that best way to make a lot of money, much more than writing, would be to start a religion. Of course, that’s just what he did, and it worked. He did become very rich.

Ad-rag.com has a total hoot post about the similarities btween dangerous cults and ad agencies: the veneration of the cult leader, the honesty within the cult and deception toward outsiders, the central focus of the cultists on the cult to the exclusion of everything else.

The cult gurus are “charismatic, determined, and domineering. They persuade followers to drop their families, jobs, careers, and friends to follow them.”

Sounds exactly like every we-are-creative shop I’ve worked in. (But the alternative, just-another-job approach is way too bland. The “Oops, 4:45 gotta go” shops are no fun.

The whole analysis is a little overdone: are ad agencies really concerned only with “recruiting new members” and “fund raising?” Is fund raising in the cult analogy the same as making money? Agencies that don’t make a profit won’t be around too long.

Intel is now claiming that the use of the word “inside” in a product name infringes upon their Intel Inside ™ theme line and trademark.

Yes, it’s strange but a UK photo processor has been forced to change its name from FotoInside Ltd to something else, something less Intel! They have complied changing the name to FotoInsight. The company has only had that service mark since 2003, and Intel reminds us that IntelInside ™ — or is it (sm) — began back in the Paleolithic Era, 1991.

I love the photo company’s statement of innocence: “Our photo processing company has never had any intention or wish to be associated to an American duopolist.”

Duopolist? I guess that’s not quite as bad a real monopoly?

Tell the kids to come inside ™ for supper. Oops, I mean tell them to enter the house for supper.

Ad-rag.com has pointed out a different kind of kitty litter advertisement: no cat, no delightful litter box, and a really small product picture.

The ad, created by DDB San Francisco, is a really clever breakthrough in what is usually a stinky, boring product category.

The hero is a frog grabbing a bunch of flies with one swoop of its tongue.

The headline “Clumping makes it easier” explains how this is possible and not coincidentally is also the chief benefit of Clorox ™ Scoop Away ™ brand cat litter.

If you thought you took strange, weird snapshots, have a look at the commercial here for Olympus cameras. Apparently, it a UK spot on the virtues of the brand for recording your most terrifying visions. Moreover, the music backs this up. This could be a trailer for a new Stephen King movie.

Mike Burns leaves Saatchi & Saatchi taking seventeen key staff members with him.

Some time ago, he had been made Co-CEO of Saatchi along with Scott Gilbert New York office by Saatchi’s Grand Poobah Kevin Roberts. Burn’s promotion made sense as Genenral Mill’s billing is an astounding $500 million — fully half the New York office’s billing, and Burns was top man at the agency on General Mills.

But the two men had totally different ad styles and frankly, just could not get along– flashy Roberts vs. soft-spoken Burns. But Roberts decided that wasn’t working out. He would terminate Gilbert and move Burns back (down) to his General Mills spot.

This change eventually led to Burns leaving and taking his people with him.

New York magazine has the inside facts on this agency shakeup.