It's our SHORTEST EPISODE YET (!!!)... and it's an episode about bowling. That's right - bowling. Professional bowling! Tom interviews professional bowler, Sila about the wild world of rolling heavy balls towards ten pins!

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Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

The 2025 elections and to our surprise, they actually mattered! Or at least they got everyone's attention! From the West Side to the East Side, Travis & Tom give you the best low-rent coverage of these election results that no money can buy! Forgive us if you listen and ask, "When is Tom gonna be able to pronounce 'Mamdani' correctly?"

CORRECTIONS:

• 7:36 - Actually it was more like 13% for NJ Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill.
• 8:50 - With 91% of the vote reported, the Yes-No percentage for Prop 50 is currently 64/36.
• 25:19 - Travis meant to say that Eric Adams chose to not run as a DEMOCRAT, not Republican.
• 48:58 - According to election analysis from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Andrew Cuomo earned 57.6% of “Registered voters w/Jewish surnames” - which obviously wouldn’t necessarily include those without “Jewish surnames”. But Cuomo did receive a majority. Nevertheless, Zohran Mamdani earned 37.3% of that demographic, meaning that over 1/3 of the Jewish New Yorkers that voted in the election chose Mamdani to be the next Mayor. Travis would consider that a “big chunk”. https://abc7ny.com/post/nyc-election-results-see-how-new-york-city-voted-mayoral-race/18117581/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

News Theme by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Travis & Tom reminisce on the Halo saga (the ones that Bungie made that is) and how these games were truly treatises on the dangers of mixing organized religion and government. One can ponder as to how Halo really teaches us lessons that can be applied to the world today... or perhaps it's just a fun video game where you get to shoot at aliens a whole bunch.

NOTE: We recorded this episode BEFORE 'Campaign Evolved' was announced.

CORRECTIONS:

• 7:19 Bungie was acquired by Sony in 2022, so they probably won’t be involved in Halo again anytime soon.
• 22:57 This was recorded right before the recent ceasefire deal was made between Israel and Hamas, though it’d be foolish to say any underlying problems there have actually been resolved.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• Halo 2. Directed by Jason Jones, performance by Michael Wincott, 2004, Microsoft Xbox game.
• Halo 3. Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios, 2007, Microsoft Xbox 360 game.
  • Prophet of Truth, performance by Terrance Stamp
  • Brute dialogue, unknown voice actor
  • Shipmaster, performance by Robert Davi

Music Cited

• “Deference for Darkness” by Martin O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori (Halo 3: ODST, Microsoft Game Studios, 2009).
• “Halo Theme MJOLNIR Mix (ft. Steve Vai)” by Martin O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori (Halo 2, Microsoft Game Studios, 2004).
• “The Last Spartan” by Martin O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori (Halo 2, Microsoft Game Studios, 2004).

SPOILERS ABOUND IN THIS ONE

Travis & Tom talk about two big movies that came out in 2025. Though really Travis just wanted to talk about Superman but Tom forced him to watch A Minecraft Movie. An odd conversation follows.

CORRECTIONS:

• A Minecraft Movie made $957M at time of editing - so SHY of a billion dollars. Technically the “Billion Dollar Movie” for this year (at time of release) was the Lilo & Stitch remake… and f*** that!
• 28:44 - According to our research, Tom may be paraphrasing C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) who actually said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”
• 39:53 - Kinda. In Byrne’s The Man of Steel (1986), Jor-El is merely apathetic at Lara’s suggestion that Kal-El will use his powers to rule Earth. As mentioned, Smallville went further with the idea in 2002 of Superman being sent with a mission of conquest. And in the comics as recent as 2017, Jor-El was revealed to be the villain known as Mister Oz, having actually survived Krypton’s destruction with help from Dr. Manhattan (yes, THAT Dr. Manhattan) and manipulates events from behind the scenes in the DC Universe. So regardless, there’s been precedent for at least a less altruistic Jor-El.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “Agendas” Young Justice, written by Kevin Hopps, directed by Michael Change, performances by George Eads, Dee Bradley Baker and Kevin Michael Richardson, Warner Bros. Animation, 2012.
• ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ directed by Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema, 2002.
• ‘Superman’ directed by James Gunn, performance by David Corenswet, DC Studios, 2025.
• ‘Superman: The Movie’ directed by Richard Donner, performances by Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, Warner Bros. Pictures, 1978.

Our second installment in the Blacklist Interview Series features Tom interviewing a longtime fast-food worker who goes by "Brit". Together, they talk about the highs and lows of working in food service, how COVID changed everything, the changing attitudes of employees, and how fast-food could become a career rather than just the starter job that it's stereotyped to be.

CORRECTION: Wendy’s still sells Chili and Baked Potatoes: https://order.wendys.com/category/103/fries-sides?lang=en_US

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Tom interviews Jester, a retail employee who talks deeply about the rip-roaring world of retail! All the things you ever wanted to know about the people behind the shopping such as industry trends, stores in times of crises, and the emergence of self-checkout.

Also, the web series Tom was referring to was IKEA Heights: https://youtu.be/y0_AVTnVljE?si=kTN1HdclsNVpmyno&t=152

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Tom and Travis have been sitting a couple of weeks on America's latest elephant in the room - the assassination of a prominent political figure - with hope that by the time they record this episode, they would be calm, controlled and nuanced. The results.... well, you'll be the judge.

CORRECTIONS:

• 38:03: As you might have surmised afterwords, Travis meant to say “MLK” not “JFK”. However, anti-Catholic prejudice was (and still is) common down in the South at the time and Kennedy being the first Catholic president was significant for the time.
• 50:54: When Tom and Travis meant to say “conspiracy”, they meant to say, “Conspiracy THEORY”. Just to be clear, GUTLC doesn’t support conspiracy theories that suggest Israel was behind Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “Bill Maher Hilariously Mocks Trump’s Antifa Terrorist Label” YouTube, uploaded by fxcEatvideo, 22 September 2025. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eW27MDACChE
• “Cheers to the Tin Man” Creature Commandos, written & created for television by James Gunn, directed by Matt Peters, DC Studios, 2024.
• Hamilton, directed by Thomas Kail, performance by Jonathan Groff, Walt Disney Pictures, 2020.
• The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich, performance by Mel Gibson, Columbia Pictures, 2000.

Music Cited

• “Instant Karma (We All Shine On) (Ultimate Mix)” by John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Apple, 1970.

Tom & Travis talk about the lack of hope among their peers - younger and older. Is the world getting worse? Can we do anything about it? If not, what can you do instead?

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Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr