Critical Wade Theory

I finally did it: I recorded a little episode about a smut film star. Details are scarce, so what can I tell you about Iggy Amore? Listen and find out as I riff on what I discovered! Recoil in horror as a lose my innocence discussing the immoral world of "adult content"!

Today we're revisiting one of the most recognizable horror sequels of the late 1990s, "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer." It's a bit of a review, but also a simple reminder that this movie exists.

What is our toddler-brained President up to now regarding the Kennedy Center? Throwing one of the ultimate man-baby tantrums this country has ever seen!

What would a silly-billy anarchic critique of the 2026 TSA shutdown look like?

'Barracuda,' 'Jessica,' 'Thunderstruck,' 'Day Tripper,' 'Beat It,' 'Stairway to Heaven'Which of those 6 riffs is the best, most powerful, most iconic riff?

Thoughts on allegations of physical assault and inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. Remember when #MeToo was seemingly the biggest trend in the world?

I am changing my approach to standup comedy...at least significantly. It especially hit me after trying to memorize elements of my "Roast of Robert Frost." If I have to memorize it, how funny is it? How authentic is it? It might not be the best style and approach.

I'm talking about "Let's Be Heroes," the very first episode of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.

When "X" hit theaters in March 2022, many horror fans expected little more than another throwback slasher — a bloody love letter to the grindhouse films of the 1970s. After all, the marketing promised a group of young people isolated on a rural Texas farm, an unsettling elderly couple, and plenty of gruesome kills.Instead, audiences got something far stranger, smarter, and far more emotionally unsettling.

For VENTS Magazine Online: In To Use a Mountain, filmmaker Casey Carter examines America's decades-long search for a permanent nuclear waste repository and the communities that found themselves caught in the middle. Through government documents and firsthand accounts, the documentary explores the clash between bureaucratic decision-making and the lives of the people whose homes, histories, and futures were placed under consideration. 

From missile strikes to aircraft carriers, from nationalist propaganda to campaign rhetoric, the same political logic emerges repeatedly: ordinary people bear the costs while governments compete for dominance.

In responding to a YouTube comment, I dismantle the arguments around flat taxes, sales taxes, and progressive tax brackets. I examine how shifting from income tax to consumption tax impacts everyday buying power, what happens to tax credits like the EITC, and the concept of "marginal utility." Tune in for a clear-eyed breakdown of the tax reform debate and why it's inaccurate to say most Republicans are "against taxes."

How does something once considered shocking eventually become ordinary? Repetition matters.

Imagine walking through a quiet cemetery in Middlebury, Vermont. The gravestones surrounding you belong to local families from the nineteenth century. Then, suddenly, one marker stops you in your tracks...

AIPAC and its primary political arms — led by the so-called United Democracy Project (UDP) — have deployed an unprecedented political war chest exceeding $100 million in the 2026 election cycle. Their core focus has been backing pro-Israel candidates and unseating or defeating progressive critics of Israeli military policy.However, Abdul El-Sayed overcame all the money against him, using the very nature of such spending against them in a refreshingly simple strategy...

Today we're taking a trip down one of the strangest side roads in animation history: the 1961 "Tales of the Wizard of Oz" cartoon, specifically Season 1, Episode 3, "Leapin' Lion."

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the landmark first episode, serves as both the pilot and the mission statement for everything "Animaniacs" would become. In just over twenty minutes, it establishes the show's mythology, introduces its unforgettable cast, and demonstrates its unique blend of slapstick, satire, music, and fourth-wall-breaking comedy.

There are certain songs that become cultural landmarks.Songs that seem to exist in a category all their own.Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" is one of those songs.Get ready for me to pour sweet syrupy praise all over this classic rock song...to the point where even fans might be like "Okay, that's enough. We get it."

Fetid Fever Dream Flashbacks of the Week: John McCain & The Keating Five Scandal

Peripheral Poophead of the week: Who the Hell is David Alan Trott?From an honest perspective, state politics is not a true arena of democratic representation, but a mechanism designed to protect private property, enforce elite hierarchy, and legitimize rule by capital. The political trajectory of Michigan’s 11th Congressional District illustrates how electoral transitions — whether switching parties or swapping individual representatives — appears to merely rotate the managers of capitalist state power.

I look at another failed TV pilot, and try to explain what happened...and what might have been.

The most prominent battle occurred in Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, where former public health official Abdul El-Sayed defeated four-term Representative Haley Stevens in a high-stakes clash between the party’s progressive wing and establishment center. El-Sayed — endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — campaigned on “Medicare for All,” systemic campaign finance reform, and a halt to U.S. military aid to Israel.

"Following a successful run on the genre festival circuit, The Prowler, the psychological horror short written, directed, and edited by Christopher Piñero and starring Aaron Dominguez, is headed to the Academy Award®- and BAFTA-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival, taking place July 30-August 12, 2026, at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles."

Today I'm exploring one of the most extraordinary—and too often overlooked—chapters of the Spanish Civil War: the women who fought on the front lines, and one remarkable fighter whose story embodies both the promise and the tragedy of that revolutionary moment. Her name was Pepita Inglés [NOTE: I could not find an image of Pepita Inglés, so I found one of the Durruti Column.]

Today I'm looking at "Speech", the fourth and final album by British progressive blues-rock band Steamhammer. Released in early 1972 on the German Brain label, it marked a dramatic transformation for the group, abandoning much of their blues-rock foundation in favor of a darker, heavier, and far more progressive sound.In addition to giving my thoughts, I will try to explain why some people like this album, and why others might not.

I talk about Detroit. I will probably make follow-ups on this, which is really just an introductory episode (to be honest).

This time I mostly do material about Pepsi vs. Coke, and Santa Claus, and a Posse of Insane Clowns. Is this rip-roaringly hilarious? I don't know, but it's possibly what I will discuss for 10 minutes at an open mic comedy gig at the end of the month.

Today, I'm talking about one of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ most iconic tracks — American Girl.

Because (for no clear reason) Spotify for Creators is making it tricky to share my RSS feed for my new podcast, I am now posting episodes of my new podcast, Wade's Year-By-Year Flashback, onto the Critical Wade Theory podcast. So, yes, this will now be like another "show-within-a-show." Why do I do any of this stuff? I don't know. Glutton for psychological punishment for dealing with tech platforms and the pitfalls of "content creation"? Just randomly killing time before I kick the bucket? I think both are accurate.

Today we're diving into the life of one of the most infamous women in ancient history: Valeria Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius and Roman empress from AD 41 until her execution in AD 48.

Here I am diving into a story that perfectly encapsulates the ultimate irony of modern statecraft.

This episode is my reply to YouTube comments by "@duxdawg." The person's response attempts to shift the debate using classic ideological talking points, historical revisionism, and a false "either/or" spectrum. I dismantle their arguments directly using economics, history, and basic political science — while tying it right back to my original episode's theme of land, state power, and property (that episode was from my other podcast, Mr. K is Wrong, and is titled "E64: Who Owns the Earth? A Big Contradiction in MAGA Populism").

Today I'm looking at one of the more unusual political biopics ever released — Oliver Stone's 2008 film *W.* Rather than delivering a fiery political attack or a comprehensive history lesson, Stone chose to make something far more intimate: a character study of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.

So, let's look at just how much Trump's Department of Justice has been distorting facts and statistics.

NOTE: I had to repair this video, splicing two separate recordings together (one from "the cloud"). Make of that what you will.Anyway, this is a fitting intro: Best known as the performer behind the helmet of Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, Branden Wayne has spent more than 25 years working across film and television, with credits ranging from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Angel to the Star Wars universe. Now, he's embarking on a new creative venture with his podcast, Hats and Helmets, a series centered on the stories that shape people's lives. During our conversation, Branden Wayne discussed the inspiration behind the podcast, his family's storytelling legacy, what it's like acting behind the Mandalorian helmet, and why mythology remains at the heart of every great story.

On February 4, 1997, in Rowlett, Texas, Darlie Routier was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of her five-year-old son, Damon. While her other son, Devon, was also killed during the same attack, his death never reached a separate trial. Darlie has always maintained that an unidentified intruder broke into their home, assaulted her, and killed her children. Despite her hospital stay and serious injuries, testimony from forensic experts ultimately secured her conviction.Here are the most recent developments on the case.

The pilot introduced us to the emergency room and its major characters. "Day One" is where the series begins to reveal what it will really become. This isn't simply a show about doctors treating patients. It's about controlled chaos, impossible decisions, and ordinary people forced to perform under extraordinary pressure.

One of de Beauvoir's most famous observations is deceptively simple:*"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."*

My podcast can be about anything! Here I review a local restaurant.

Every year, many movies are released. Some dominate the box office for a few weeks before fading from memory. Others become cultural landmarks that people continue watching, quoting, and recommending decades later.That raises an interesting question: What are the key features that make a film enduringly popular?

Alex Jones influencer Gary Allen was a prominent member of Robert W. Welch Jr.'s John Birch Society, which is why I am looking at Welch as the 3rd part of this examination of Alex Jones's paranoid ideology (if it could even be called an ideology).The biggest, most defining scandal of Robert W. Welch Jr.’s life centered on his conspiratorial book, *The Politician*. Written in 1956 and later leaked to the public, the text made the sensational claim that sitting President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy." Here I look at this paranoid claim from a critical, radical left-wing perspective and explain how, in a very basic way, it misses the mark.

Who is Gary Allen? Good question. I never heard of him, either...until I looked into who influenced Alex Jones. Gary Allen was one such infuence, at least to an extent. Let's look at some of the basic ideas Allen espoused and apply an anarchic deconstruction of right-wing populism. That photo is of Alex Jones, of course...because, again, most people won't even know who the hell Gary Allen is., so why would I use a photo of him?

For years, Alex Orbison has been recognized as the son of the legendary Roy Orbison and as the drummer for the Allman Betts Band. Now, he's embarking on a new chapter as a solo artist with his debut album Love and Loss. In this conversation (for VENTS Magazine online) Orbison discusses the long road that led him to writing his own songs, overcoming self-doubt, honoring authenticity over perfection, and embracing life at center stage.

Is it true that each generation is condemned to making the mistakes of the past?

In this episode I'm looking at one of the largest and most ambitious war films ever made: "A Bridge Too Far," released in 1977.

Husband-and-wife filmmakers Britt Bankhead and Grace Patterson discuss their film "The Town That Takes."

What would happen if traditional cultures around the world disappeared?Though technically not entirely possible, it is an interesting question...and I try to answer it here.

This episode moves through two very different topics: electricity and pop law. We’re starting with a question about stun guns and whether you can accidentally shock yourself while using one, then we’ll zoom out into the changing legal landscape around cannabis in 2026.

I have mixed feelings about The Onion's satirical takeover of Alex Jones's Infowars. Here's why...

Today, we’re taking a journey through cinema, looking at five massive films between 1968 and 1979 that completely redefined sci-fi and horror, with memorable aliens involved. We’re cutting right to the core of what made them work, with a closer look at the incredible casts who brought these worlds to life.