Man shot in movie theater for talking during “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
December 26th, 2008 by Scott Marks
James Joseph Cialella Jr., a cinephile’s best friend.
It’s a good thing that I don’t own a gun.
A 29-year-old Philadelphia man, angered when a father and his son kept talking during a Christmas screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, took matters into his own hands when he pulled a .380-caliber gun and shot the father.
Not guilty!
James Joseph Cialella Jr., 29 is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons violations. Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “It’s truly frightening when you see something like this evolve into such violence.”
The incident took place at the Riverview Theatre at about 9:30 p.m. The victim, a Philadelphia man who was not identified, told police a man sitting near him told his family to be quiet and threw popcorn at his son.
According to Lt. Vanore, Cialella allegedly got out of his seat to confront the family when the father got up to protect them. That’s when the victim was shot once in the left arm, sending others in the theatre fleeing for safety. Once silence had been restored, Cialella sat down and continued watching the picture. Police arrived a short time later and arrested Cialella and confiscated his weapon, Vanore said.
What about crimes against art and what should be viewed as Mr. Cialella’s heroic act? Do you think that David Fincher made a three hour film for yahoos to blab through? And what kind of a role model was the victim, encouraging his son to talk during a movie?
Mr. Cialella’s handsome photo should be flashed during pre-show entertainment on movie screens across America as a warning to all potential inconsiderate disturbance makers.
Tags: philadelphia, Riverview Theatre, south philadelphia, The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonLarry Mendte admits hacking his co-anchor’s e-mail
August 22nd, 2008 by Scott Marks
Larry Mendte & Alycia Lane star in a dinner theatre production of “You’ve Got Mail”
Those of us living in Chicago between 1991 to 1995 will never forget the on-screen antics of news anchor/investigative reporter/scivosa Larry Mendte, 51, or as Steve Dahl affectionately called him, “Larry Mental.”
What a muckraking sleazeball this guy is. Larry spearheaded WBBM-TV’s switch to tabloid journalism and there wasn’t a better man for the job. In April 1992, the Chicago River burst through a utility tunnel causing 250 gallons of water to flood the Chicago Loop. Forget about the built-in drama, Mendte exploited the disaster for everything it’s worth by directing the prop department at Ch. 2 to construct an enormous flood diorama for him to deliver his nightly panic reports. Prefabricated mayhem has seldom been as funny.
In spite of his pandering ways (or is it on account of them) Mendte eventually landed on a couple of high profile infotainment shows (Hard Copy and Access Hollywood) before settling in as anchor at Philadelphia’s KYW-TV. In March 2008, The Philadelphia Enquirer reported that Mendte was being investigated by the FBI for hacking into his 36-year-old co-anchor Alycia Lane’s personal e-mail account. Larry was suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Before the FBI delivered its findings, the CBS affiliate conducted it own internal investigation and released Larry from his contract.
According to Wikipedia, “On Monday July 21, 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s office of Philadelphia charged Mendte with one felony count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization, as he continually logged into Lane’s Yahoo Mail and .Mac accounts not only from the station, but from his computers at home and at the private Union League of Philadelphia, with 537 log-ins between January and May 29, 2008. A conviction could bring a six-month prison term under federal sentencing guidelines.”
Questions arose as to why Larry felt the need to spy on his co-anchor. Ms. Lane’s attorneys speculated that Mendte was eager to discredit her because Ms. Lane was drawing a higher salary than he was after she signed a new contract in April 2006. (She was making $780,000 a year while poor Larry raked in only $700,000.)
At a press conference today, Larry fessed up to his wrongdoings stating that his actions grew out of a feud with Lane that began after he ended what he said was a flirtatious and improper relationship with her, including long dinners and late nights out together. Larry is married to his former WBBM co-anchor Dawn Stensland.
Mendte will be sentenced on November 24. He faces a maximum sentence of five years, but more than likely they’ll go easy on him. Let’s hope that we’ll all get a front row seat on Court TV to see Larry’s best performance.
Tags: alicia lane, Alycia Lane, e-mail, Email, hacking email, kyw-tv, Larry Mendte, larry mental, larry menty, News Anchor, philadelphia, wbbm-tvFiled Under News