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Here’s a new commercial from ad agency 180Amsterdam featuring soccer great Steven Gerrard trying to hit a clay pigeon with a soccer ball. There’s lot of debate online on whether or not this is real, which is precisely what the agency was hoping for, I’m sure. Advertising that gets noticed is great. Advertising that gets watched again and again and then discussed and argued about is flat out brilliant. In other words, in advertising terms, whether this is real or not is totally irrelevant.

As for me, I’ve watched it about 17 times and I’m pretty sure my opinion is right. But rather than influence you, I merely invite you to experience it yourself.

I love Robert Crais, especially his Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels. The two make a lovely testosterone-filled pair. There’s always lots of busted heads and snarky commentary to go around when Elvis and Pike are on the job. But Hostage is one of Crais’s standalone novels. A few years ago it was made into a movie with Bruce Willis, but I recently saw the trailer, and I don’t think it’s anything I’ll want to see any time soon. It looked rather silly. But “silly,” dear reader, the novel is not.

Hostage tells the story of Jeff Talley, a former LA SWAT hostage negotiator who left the job after a hostage situation went bad and Talley became consumed with guilt. Now he’s the chief of police in the sleepy California town of Bristo Camino where the only legal infractions are the occasional speeding ticket.

All that changes when three criminals on the run are forced to stop in Bristo Camino to steal a car. As you might suspect, a hostage situation ensues, but it’s far more complicated than you might think. I’d rather not give anything away here, but suffice it to say that Crais is a master of the slow boil. Just when you think the situation couldn’t get any more dire or more complicated, Crais throws another wrench into the gears. This isn’t a simple hostage story. This is a story about the lengths one man will go to save the people he loves. It’s lots of fun, and although it’s loaded with more gore and language than you typically get from Crais, it’s still a wonderful ride.

Some of the best advertising doesn’t have any copy at all. Take this recent print campaign for Alka Seltzer created by Paris-based agency CLM BBDO. The premise is simple. Somebody is forced to eat something they shouldn’t in order to avoid big painful trouble. I think they’re brilliant in their simplicity. Great illustrations and hilarious situations. Hopefully they don’t need any more explanation than that. (You may need to click on each to see it larger and get all the detail.)

Here’s a very fun spot created by BBH London. I can’t even begin to imagine what the production budget on this thing was. Great special effects. Very realistic. Great takes from the extras. Lots and lots of fun.

This is the coolest spot I’ve seen in some time. Lauren and I watched several times. I won’t give it any more preamble than that. You simply must experience it for yourself.

Robert Crais is my favorite author these days. His Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels read like nine-hour action movies. I usually listen to them on audiobook, but I’ll occasionally read them the old fashion way as well. In Indigo Slam, Elvis Cole, the self-proclaimed world’s greatest detective, is hired by three young kids to find their missing father. At first Elvis considers calling Social Services and having the state take care of the kids, but then Elvis discovers that the kids are in a whole hurt of trouble with the Russian mob and that they’re father isn’t what he appears. Meanwhile, Elvis’s girlfriend Lucy is making arrangements to take a job in LA to be close to Elvis, but Lucy’s ex-husband is playing hardball. This novel was written before The Last Detective, which deals more with Lucy’s husband and the lengths he’ll go to to maintain control over his wife and son. So if you haven’t read either, read Indigo Slam first.

What I respect most about Crais is how much research he does for each of his novels. In Indigo, Crais delves deep into the particulars of a certain type of crime (one I won’t divulge here) and the federal agency responsible for stopping it. It’s fascinating. That’s what’s great about Crais. You can be entertained and educated at the same time. Granted, it’s always crime education, how bad people do what they do. But hey, it’s learning.