Think you guys might get a kick out of this one: Roger Ebert talks about movie trivia and how much he loathes it: The fatal flaw in the concept of trivia is that it mistakes information for knowledge. There is no end to information. Some say the entire universe is made from it, when you get right down to the bottom, under the turtles. There is, alas, quite a shortage of knowledge.

Thanks to Rene for sending this in. See any trivia related news stories? Please send them to me.

An enormous riot started in Philly on this date in 1964, wrecking North Philly, and while the looters may have gotten a few free goods, they destroyed any hope of future businesses coming to the area for decades. While local leader Cecil B. Moore tried to stem the looting, people ran wild, stealing everything they could get their hands on. This from TIME’s 1964 report on the story:

Rioters ran through the streets, shattered virtually every storefront window in a four-square-mile area. Looters dashed into the stores, grabbed racks of clothing, cases of liquor, groceries, furniture—anything they could move. They overturned cars, set fires, burned down a hat shop. Burglar alarms rang constantly.

Negro Leader Stanley Branche stood on a box at a street corner, used a bullhorn to plead: “Please go home. Please go home. This is doing us no good.” The mob answered with hoots, threw stones, bricks and bottles at him, hit him in the leg. Philadelphia N.A.A.C.P. President Cecil Moore shouted: “Come out of that store! Quit looting that store!”

As for the police response, they decided to pull back and let the rioting go on. This was severely criticized by Frank Rizzo, and the mayhem that ensued helped his political rise to power.

Policemen, severely outnumbered by the rioters, were ordered by Police Commissioner Howard Leary, who grew up in what had been the Irish Catholic section of North Philadelphia and worked his way through Temple University Law School at night, to do nothing. Frank Rizzo, who was to become, before the end of the 1960s, the police commissioner, and by 1971, the mayor, and was in 1964 the famous, most admired, and most hated, cop in Philadelphia, intensely disliked this strategy, feeling that a strong show of police force would nip the riot in the bud. He called Leary “a gutless bastard.”

The riots destroyed the neighborhood.

By Sunday, the fury was all spent, but nearly every store on Columbia Avenue, the central shopping district of North Philadelphia, had been destroyed. The riot signaled the beginning of the end of North Philadelphia as a largely working-poor neighborhood…Many of the stores never reopened, and the neighborhood began its descent into the chaos of an underclass realm.

It was a depressing time to be in Philly, as a couple weeks later, the Phils started their famous swoon.

Joe Ski Love discusses his big hit recently with D-Nice. Love had never seen the movie when he wrote the song.

Today’s the day gang! The star of the GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE turns 57 today. There has been talk of a new Pee Wee Project for like 20 years. So what’s the latest? Well, there are a few things in development. The most pressing is the Pee Wee stage show, which will go off in Hollywood in November. We here at JGT headquarters are seriously thinking about spending our Thanksgiving in LA.
Meanwhile, there are two Pee Wee scripts written, AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WILL SOMEONE WITH LOTS OF MONEY PLEASE PRODUCE THEM? Damnit, this is one of those times I wish I was filthy rich. The next Pee Wee movie is going to be Number 1 with a bullet at the box office, but these goons in Hollywood can’t see it, so nobody seems to be funding these films.

One is about Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, and I’m sure it will be a great film. But it’s the other script that has me really excited. It is what Reubens has called a “dark comedy”.

“It’s basically the story of Pee-wee Herman becoming famous as a singer,” Reubens explained. “He has a hit single and gets brought out to Hollywood to make musical movies, kind of like they did with Elvis. It all kind of goes downhill from there for Pee-wee. He turns into a monster. He does everything wrong and becomes a big jerk.” Though he described it as a movie “about fame,” Reubens insisted, “It’s not autobiographical.”

A dark Pee-Wee comedy. Color Me Sold. Of course, there is some bad news. Reubens admitted he’s talked to “Big Adventure” director Burton. “I have talked to Tim about one of them about a year ago. But Tim is booked. I think he would be interested in it, but he’s really busy.”

Damnit, Tim! Come to your senses man! There is nothing you are working on that is as important as a dark Pee Wee comedy. Nothing! OK, if not Tim, maybe David Lynch. You got any ideas for who should be director of these films?

First of all, a little heads up, this will not be a night for high scoring. The winning scores last night were 88 and 84. The 2nd round is a little different than usual. I think it’s kind of cool but it’s also really tough. Was able to raise a lot of money yesterday. Special thanks go out to the guys on Dog Peed on My Eagles Jersey, who after winning donated the cash equivalent of their gift certificate to the program. Classy move…and it certainly won’t hurt them in the power rankings. Had several other folks last night who were extremely generous with their offers. Trust me, it is greatly appreciated and will be put to good use.

OK, on to quizzo tonight. The Jams try to stay on top at 6:15 p.m. They’ll be hard pressed to keep their average up around 113 with tonight’s quiz, but that doesn’t mean they’ll lose their 3 game winning streak. Then we head to Black Sheep at 8 p.m. There are rumors of an Axis of Evil Knieval sighting tonight. They’ll be hard pressed to knock off a Duane’s World team that is King of the Hill at the Sheep. Hope to see ya tonight!

Here is a look at “The Future” in 1969. This is pretty cool.

The kind of hot, kind of annoying tv cook turns 41 today. Here are some sexy shots she took for FHM magazine when she was 35. (Yes, these are real photos. I thought they were photoshopped the first time I saw them.) But when you are wishing her a happy birthday today, please keep in mind: she is an agent of terror.