Programmed to Chill

Latest Episodes:

Premium Episode 51, Novels as Spycraft 8 - the Kindly Ones, or, Black Magical Realism, featuring Trash May 07, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon

Today I'm joined by Trash (@bidenbigboi) to discuss the French novel, the Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. The novel follows an SS officer through WWII which provides various opportunities to discuss various aspects of the Eastern Front and the Holocaust. Then, later, we discuss Littell's background which points to this being an entry in the Novels as Spycraft series.

*note, I accidentally refer to Friedrich Flick as “Frick”, what are you gonna do

Songs:

Into Warmer Air by Hildur Guðnadóttir

Ascent by ‘’

Erupting Light by ‘’

Overcast by ‘’

De tes yeux bleus perlés by Celeste

Premium 41 - Novels as Spycraft 7 - Dashiell Hammett part 2: a Hardboiled Marxist May 06, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Nov 7, 2022]

Today's the second of two episodes on the hardboiled novelist Dashiell Hammett. Today I discuss several Hammett's wartime experiences, his tuberculosis, the tail end of his private detective career, and his writing career. Hammett went to Hollywood and became a committed communist, and was targeted by McCarthy and HUAC. Fundamentally, though, we can learn much from Hammett.

Songs:

I'm No Communist by Lulu Belle & Scotty

When I'm Gone by Phil Ochs

Premium 40 - Novels as Spycraft 7 - Dashiell Hammett part 1: Pinkerton Op, the Copper Wars, and the Murder of Frank Little May 05, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Nov 1, 2022]

Today's the first of two episodes on the hardboiled novelist Dashiell Hammett. Today I go through the first half of Hammett's life, including his early life and family history, his time as a Pinkerton operative, and what being a Pinkerton op entailed. I discuss the Mining Wars and tell the story of Frank Little, an IWW organizer. I finish the episode with a discussion of the novel, Red Harvest.

Note: the Hammett episodes are, I believe, the last episodes with annoying sound quality issues, for which I apologize.

Songs:

There is Power in a Union by Utah Phillips

The Ballad of Frank Little by Dusty the Kid

CrackpotoberFest 4: Premium Episode 50, Paranoiac Films 8 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre IV and Surveillance of Blackmail/Murder Rings, feat. Dakota May 04, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Oct 24, 2022]

Today's the last of the horror movies for CrackpotoberFest 2022 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995) aka Texas Chainsaw Massacre IV. I'm joined by the unrivaled Dakota to discuss the film. We go through the weird vibes and the increasingly paranoid themes. Then, we cover the existence of comparable blackmail and murder rings that have been exposed in the past.

Songs:

Blood in the Streets by the Jasons

Longhaired Redneck by David Allan Coe

I’ve Seen Footage by Death Grips

CrackpotoberFest 3: Premium Episode 49 - Paranoiac Films 7: Halloween 6, Neo-Druidic Murder and the Matamoros Cult, feat. Blauer May 03, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Oct 17, 2022]

Today's the third of four horror movies for CrackpotoberFest 2022 - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) aka Halloween 6. I'm joined by Blauer (@blauer_geist) to discuss the film. Blauer helps me walk us through the plot to Halloween 6, the cult of Thorn, and especially contextualizes the film within the Halloween franchise as a whole. Then, I discuss the Matamoros cult in relation to the film, and hopefully point out some things which go under-discussed when Matamoros comes up.

episode art is the remains of Mark Kilroy

Links:

https://twitter.com/blauer_geist

https://apocalypse-confidential.com/

Songs:

Halloween Theme

Brujerizmo by Brujeria

el Padrino by Church of Misery

CrackpotoberFest 2: Premium Episode 48 - Paranoiac Films 6: Ghostwatch, or, “Why is everything just two steps removed from Jonestown?" pt. 2, feat. Tanner Boyle May 02, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Oct 9, 2022; you can also find the episode on Tanner's blog Getting Spooked]

Today's the second of four horror movies for CrackpotoberFest 2022 - Ghostwatch (1992), and I'm joined by Fortean expert Tanner Boyle (@TannerFBoyle1) to discuss the film. Tanner walks us through the plot and we discuss the film and its themes, which include spiritualism, baby farming, psychological operations, Jimmy Savile, the Society for Psychical Research, and even, yet again, a Jonestown connection.

Links:

https://twitter.com/TannerFBoyle1

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-fortean-influence-on-science-fiction/

https://tannerfboyle.substack.com/

Songs:

Con Clave Con Dio by Ghost

Satan Prayer by Ghost

Ghost Song by the Doors

CrackpotoberFest 1: Premium 47 - Novels as Spycraft 8 / Paranoiac Films 5 - Girl, Interrupted, or, Dr. Strangelove’s Daughter on some MKULTRA Shit May 01, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Oct 1, 2022]

Today's the first of four horror (or quasi-horror) films for CrackpotoberFest 2022 - Girl, Interrupted, both the memoir and the film. I discuss Susanna Kaysen and her father, a very interesting figure. I talk about McLean Hospital, Jim Watson, spies at McLean, and Kaysen's later career.

Then, I go over some interesting themes that Girl, Interrupted the film injects into the narrative - some potentially spurious, some maybe not. To wrap up, I discuss the history of MKULTRA projects at McLean and the general area. CrackpotoberFest only gets weirder from here.

Songs:

Knockin’ Round the Zoo by James Taylor

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Downtown by Petula Clark

Angel Baby by Rosie & the Originals

Premium 46 - the Cathars pt. 4, CIA: Cathars in Action - Esoteric Angleton and the Wilderness of Mirrors Apr 30, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Sep 23, 2022]

Today's the final installment of the Cathar series, dropped a few days early because I'll be busy next week. I finally did it - an Angleton episode. I discuss the life and times of James Jesus Angleton. I argue that there's something new for listeners with any level of Angleton familiarity. I discuss Soviet defectors, the Trust, Kim Philby, Anatoly Golitsyn and Yuri Nosenko, MKULTRA, the Lovestone empire, the Israelis, the USS Liberty, the Monster Plot, and Edward Clare Petty. It's my grandiose contention that I advance the theory of Angleton-as-mole one step further by looking at Petty's career. Finally, I look at Angleton's conception of himself and the spiritual implications of espionage.

artwork by my loving and deranged wife, entitled "Crazy Frogleton"

Songs:

various tracks from the Good Shepherd OST

selections from the Nosenko interrogation - Feb 23, 1964 - Reel 13 & Reel 12: Nick and Subject, record 104-10534-10006

Premium 45 - The Cathars pt. 3, Cicely d'Autremont, American Cathar Apr 29, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Sep 18, 2022]

Today much is revealed including the source of the dissertation I've been using for Cathar research. I discuss Cicely d'Autremont starting with her family history, her early life, her love of James Jesus Angleton, their rocky marriage, the Georgetown Set, and her time in France. Then it becomes Programmed to Chill's Poetry Hour as a I read several of her poems which range from nice to disconcerting. Finally, I reveal exactly why I've been so fixated on this dissertation.

shout-out @EzerakL and @DrBlobb

Songs:

Bay of Pigs from the Good Shepherd OST

Frederick’s Lure ‘’

Embraceable You ‘’

Premium 44 - The Cathars pt. 2: Cistercian Preaching Missions, “Is It OK to be a Luddite?”, and Medieval History as Parapolitics Apr 28, 2024

Show notes

[originally published on Patreon Sep 10, 2022]

In part 2 of 4, I revisit and reiterate the Cathars' cosmology and the situation leading up to the Albigensian crusade. Along the way I discuss Thomas Pynchon and his essay on the Luddites. Then I discuss the period of time immediately before and leading up to the Albigensian Crusade, namely two Cistercian preaching missions to the Languedoc. One of these was spearheaded by Bernard of Clairvaux. In particular, I utilize a dissertation which posits alternate or additional, dare I say parapolitical reasons for these preaching missions. This, too, is setup for the following episode.

Songs:

Balferd Baldrs by Burzum

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