I am supposed to be busy writing an essay at the moment, so clearly I spent all of this morning browsing through my hard drive and reminiscing over long-lost word documents from years ago and saved email attachments that are only now doing the rounds again.

Amongst all the "stuff" to be found, I came across on video of the Playstation 2 advert directed by Lynch, titled "the 3rd place" (in b&w and colour versions!) Does anybody else remember what I'm on about?

I was struck by the sheer quantity of Lynchian imagery and references packed into the short 60-second commercial. In order of what happens (with very little left out actually!):

• The main character is reminiscent of TP FBI-type characters, dressed in a black suit with white shirt and black tie
• Fire erupts from the side of the wall - re: Fire theme in TP, in Lost Highway, in Wild at Heart
• The corridor setting has an other-worldly feel about it, definitely reminiscent of the Black Lodge
• There is a close-up shot of the camera moving through stick-like undergrowth, bringing to mind the scene in Blue velvet where the camera goes beneath the turf
• A woman floats upwards past a window, signalling "quiet" with a finger to her mouth - a bit like Laura Palmer in the Red Room. The planet Saturn and another planet move behind her
• The protagonist looks down a side-corridor and sees an image of himself at the end (on its side) - like Cooper being in two places at once in FWWM
• The protagonist gives himself the "thumbs-up" sign - as Cooper is fond to do, and Gordon Cole too
• Electrical sounds emanate from a speaker in the roof, re: FWWM, and there is a feeling of surveillance, as in Lost Highway
• The protagonists head becomes disconnected from his body and proceeds down the hall - similar to the moment in Eraserhead where Henry's head goes on a journey
• His arm then leaps out through his mouth and goes onwards without him - bringing to mind Gerrard, the one-armed man in TP
• Smoke clears, and you see three "people" sitting on a sofa facing the protagonist. The disembodied arm is also present on the right hand side of the room. Feels very much like a Red-Room encounter
• The three people on the sofa are - the protagonist himself (again), a man covered completely in bandages, with a black spot indicating one eye and his mouth, and a suited figure with a duck's head
• Not sure about the man in bandages, but the guy with a duck's head for a head reminds me of Henry in Eraserhead, when the "baby" head emerges through his suit collar.
• The duck head speaks "Welcome...To...The third...Place" - in a voice that reminds me of the MFAP's voice in TP

Basically, I've just watched this thing over and over a few times, and there's hardly anything in the 60 seconds that I CAN'T link to something that Lynch has previously done...

I realise you can look and find what you're looking for a lot of the time, but this is quite uncanny.

I wonder what the brief for the commercial was? Was Lynch instructed to make it as "Lynchian" as possible? Other commercials he's directed haven't been like this...

Hope there's a place on the net where people can still download this video - look for both versions if you can, the b&w and the colour one. I'm not sure if the colour one was actually used - I remember the B&W one being broadcast on TV, but maybe the colour one was used in cinemas?

If anybody can advise me on how to host them somewhere, let me know, or I could email them possibly - they're 2.65Mb and 6.6Mb respectively.

Devilish

You could upload it using yousendit, devilish. It's more reliable than rapidshare. I think those adverts are pretty easy to find on the net though. It's one of my favourites - along with the blind man ad, which is beautiful.

Ah, seems they're available for download on Lynchnet: http://www.lynchnet.com/ads/

Devilish

A new documentary would be fantastic. My eyes are like saucers as I type. Not that any of these things ever get released in the UK (muttering under breath). DL is single-handedly responsible for my metamorphosis into a one man import/export industry!