#bowling is just bowling and dennis only showed up and competed at all in order to fuck with dee

[dennisboobs]

.

#i can understand ppls issues with the bowling ep from a personal standpoint #but the misogyny was very much the point. like. that was the point. the joke was that dennis is a piece of shit #not that any of what he was saying was true #dee did prove she could overcome the obstacle he created when she had not done it before #but it was just. she and him. like. no one else cared. dennis didnt even actually care. #bowling is just bowling and dennis only showed up and competed at all in order to fuck with dee #idk. idk. like #i dont think sunny should make shit as clear as they have been that they dont condone the shit the gang does because it gets. messy #to me that was like. literally perfect episode. it was an absolute joy to watch beginning to end #and i think it did it a hell of a lot better than something like womans right to chop #where it absolutely bludgeons you with the 'ohhh these guys are misogynistssss' shit #like okay. cool #its a mind game!!!!! and the dialogue was. you know. normal. and not the characters being mouthpieces #theyre assholes #ada speaks #also i fucking love evil little brother dennis. so much. i need this times a thousand forever and ever #he's a fucking bastard and he makes a great low stakes villain #like this to me is so. so much more fun than the serial killer shit. #and dee fucking won. if theyd had their places switched dennis would absolutely not have the willpower to manage that #im just saying

[dubsism]

Today’s Movie: Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Year of Release: 1949

Stars: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly

Director: Busby Berkeley

This movie is not on my list of essential films.

NOTE: This installment of Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies is being done as part of something called the Esther Williams Blog-A-Thon being hosted by Love Letters To Old Hollywood. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been included in several of her events…frankly, she had me at Van Johnson.  Speaking of which, there’s another event coming for him soon as well.

The Story:

“Take Me Out To The Ball Game” takes place in 1908 and centers on a baseball team known as the Chicago Wolves (not to be confused with the current non-fictional minor-league hockey team of the same name). Ostensibly, this is supposed to be the actual Chicago White Sox because they play all American League opponents, but the producers don’t want to say that as there’s a not-so-subtle reference to gambling and the whole 1919 “Black Sox” scandal later in the film.

Right off the bat, most will notice this movie is a bit thin on plot.  That’s why it works as a musical; a genre where the story-line really only serves to stitch the “song-and-dance” numbers together. To that end, two of the Wolves are also part-time Vaudevillians; Eddie O’Brien (played by Gene Kelly) and Dennis Ryan (played by Frank Sinatra). Obviously, those two are the engine for the “song-and-dance” part of this film (along with Betty Garrett and Jules Munshin).

The plot comes when the team finds out they are getting a new owner.  In and of itself, that would upset the club house of any team, but matters intensify when it is discovered the new owner is a woman who intended to take an active interest in running the team. The team envisions the new owner to be some frumpy dowager, but the reality proves to be the exact opposite.

If I were an umpire, Esther Williams could kick dirt on me anytime.

K.C. Higgins (played by Esther Williams) is not only improbably gorgeous, she just so happens to know baseball.  After the expected period of adjustment beginning in spring training and stretching into the season, the novelty of having a woman as the owner wears off and the “love interest” complications set in.

First, Dennis has eyes for K.C., but all the while he’s the target of the affections of a “Baseball Annie” Shirley Delwyn (played by Betty Garrett). Eddie eventually falls for K.C. as well, and this “J. Geils-esque ‘Love Stinks'” motif teams with the musical numbers carrying the movie until we get to the real “hook” in the plot.

As far as the songs go, they are standard fare for an MGM musical; light and meant to drive the pace of the movie.  Highlights include the require d title track performed by Kelly and Sinatra when they meet the other players in Florida.  They also pair for an “All The Girls We’ve Loved Before“-type number called, “Yes, Indeedy.”  There’s no way you’re getting an MGM musical starring Frank Sinatra without “Ol’ Blue Eyes” doing what he does best, crooning a love song titled “The Right Girl for Me.” Betty Garrett provides a major dose of comic relief with “It’s Fate Baby, It’s Fate;” sung while she seems to be seriously considering jumping Sinatra’s bones.

Interwoven through the messiness of the love interests is the fact that there’s a lot gangsters around this story, the head thug being Joe Lorgan (played by Edward Arnold).  This brings us to the aforementioned allusion of the Wolves as the Chicago White Sox as Lorgan is a thinly-disguised Arnold Rothstein, the man who was indicted but never convicted of conspiring to “fix” the 1919 World Series.  Vaudevillian Eddie gets tangled up with Lorgan when he performs in a show bank-rolled by Lorgan and his cohorts who are betting on the Wolves to lose the World Series. Eventually, this leads to a series of events which result in Eddie being kicked off the team.

The Hidden Sports Analogy:

Much like the Wolves had a incorrect assumption about what K.C. Williams was going to be, if you think the hidden sports analogy here is about baseball, you would be mistaken. Today’s episode is a tale of a real-life K.C. Williams three-quarters of a century after the setting of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” It’s also a story as interwoven as the love interests in that film…come along on a journey which will take us through Hollywood, the National Football League (NFL), and straight-up sexism.

ACT I – Bob & Carroll & Ted & Alice & Baltimore & Los Angeles

The story starts in 1972 when a businessman named Robert Irsay purchased the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. At the same time, another business giant named Carroll Rosenbloom owned the Baltimore Colts.  Rosenbloom amassed his fortune with the Blue Ridge Clothing Company; by 1959, Blue Ridge had grown to include almost a dozen shirt and overall companies and had over 7,000 employees.  This led to Rosenbloom being known “America’s Overalls King.”

While Rosenbloom was born and raised in Baltimore, he fancied himself being part of the glamour of Hollywood…and he fit the part as well. An athletic, dashing figure, Rosenbloom cut a larger-than-life presence…he always reminded me of Lorne Greene, and I think Rosenbloom would have been right at home as the patriarch of a TV western family.  To that end, he was was one of the largest share holders in Seven Arts Productions Limited, which backed the Broadway musical “Funny Girl,” and the films “Lolita,” “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” and “The Night of the Iguana.”

Rosenbloom also had the pedigree for a perfect NFL owner. He had an “Ivy League” education having studied at the University of Pennsylvania and playing halfback on the football team.  This is also where his connections to the NFL began; his backfield coach for the Penn Quakers was future NFL Commissioner Bert Bell.

Carroll Rosenbloom and Robert Irsay

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Robert Irsay was bombastic and a heavy drinker who cared little for the glitz of Hollywood. So, in 1972, he and Rosenbloom swapped franchises. Irsay got the Colts and Baltimore, at the time a tough, blue-collar seaport city much more befitting Irsay’s persona…and Rosenbloom got “the team of the stars.”

Carroll Rosenbloom quickly became entrenched in the milieu of Hollywood, and the Rams enjoyed tremendous success during his ownership.  The Rams won their division (NFC West) for a then-NFL record seven straight seasons between 1973 and 1979.  They even earned the franchise’s first trip to the Super Bowl after the 1979 season.  However, the relationship between Rosenbloom and the city of Los Angeles was less than rosy.

The home of the Rams, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was 50 years old at the time Rosenbloom bought the team.  The aging venue not only lacked modern amenities like luxury boxes, but it cavernous capacity of over 90,000 seats created problems with the NFL’s “black-out” policy of the era. In order to protect ticket sales,  games in which all the tickets were not sold 72 hours prior to kick-off were not broadcast in the local market. The reality was it proved difficult to sell that many ticket when even the closest seats were close to 30 yards from the playing field.

The inability to sell-out and the resultant lack of the Rams on Los Angeles television proved to be a vicious cycle with one feeding the other.  Without TV, the Rams struggled to keep drawing fan interest, which drove down ticket sales, et cetera…The continual sag in attendance drove Rosenbloom to cut a deal with the city of Anaheim in burgeoning suburban Orange County. The deal involved Rosenbloom agreeing to hold Rams’ home games in the city-owned Anaheim Stadium once it was expanded to approximately 65,000. “The Big A” was located right off a major freeway, was literally in the shadow of Disneyland, and was already home to baseball’s California Angels.

The future looked bright for both sides. Rosenbloom got a newly-remodeled venue for his football team and the more reasonable capacity likely meant the end of television black-outs. For Anaheim, it meant adding another major attraction to it’s growing list to compete with its gargantuan neighbor 30 miles up the Golden State Freeway.

But Rosenbloom would never see his Rams play football in Orange County.  In April of 1979 while the deal was still being brought to fruition, Rosenbloom suffered a heart attack and drowned while swimming in the ocean off Golden Beach, Florida.

Act II – Georgia On My Mind

Rosenbloom’s memorial at his mansion in Bel-Air was attended by nearly 1,000 wishing to pay their respects. The group was an eclectic hodge-podge of NFL owners and dignitaries, the entire Los Angeles Rams organization, and a solid representative sample of Rosenbloom Hollywood connections.  Comedian Jonathan Winters was the Master of Ceremonies.  Howard Cosell, Ricardo Montalbán, and Ross Martin were among those who delivered eulogies.  In a salute to Rosenbloom’s legendary “raucous” sense of humor, Don Rickles did what Don Rickles does.  Warren Beatty made an appearance, having just played a Ram in the previous year’s “Heaven Can Wait.” Other attendees included Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Rod Steiger, and Henry Mancini.

But it didn’t take long for the details of Rosenbloom’s will to emerge. His son Steve had been left with the “managerial and operational” duties for the Rams, and Steve his two siblings, Daniel and Suzanne, and half-siblings, Chip and Lucia each received equal shares in ownership of the franchise, totaling 30%.  But it was Rosenbloom’s widow Georgia who inherited a controlling 70% stake in the team. Another clause in the will stipulated that the ultimate decision as to who ran the day-to-day operations of the team was entirely a matter of “as long as the successor trustee, in his discretion shall determine.”

In other words, the ultimate control of the Los Angeles Rams was now in the hands of Georgia Frontiere.  Would she flex her new organizational muscle, or would she let Steve Rosenbloom run the Rams?

It took less than three months for Frontiere to assume control of the Los Angeles Rams. Frontiere was not the first female owner in the history of the NFL.  When Charlie Bidwell, the owner of the then-Chicago Cardinals, died in 1947, the team was left to his widow Violet.  In the 1950s, the controlling interest of the San Francisco 49ers was held by two brothers, Tony and Vic Morabito. When they died in 1957 and 1964 respectively, control of the team passed to their widows Jo and Jane Morabito.  But none of them ever took over the day-to-day operations of their teams.  In other words, Frontiere took the NFL into new territory.

But the main-stream sports media didn’t wait that long to create a demonstrably false narrative about her. Born Violet Frances Irwin to a beauty queen mother and businessman father in 1927 in St. Louis,  Frontiere grew up to be a voluptuous blond who aspired to be an actress and singer. Her career started performing alongside her mother in various dinner theaters.  She worked her way up through small theater productions, eventually landing on television.  She became a local celebrity in Miami in the 1950s as the host of her own interview show, a gig which landed her several appearances on NBC’s “Today” show.  It was through television that she met her future husband Carroll Rosenbloom.

In other words, Frontiere was “tailor-made” to have the narrative hung on her about being little more than being the rich, old guy’s younger “trophy wife.” Nothing says part of that couldn’t be true, but the hypocritical ass-loafs in the media never even bothered to discover the reality.

That became clear from the first time Georgia stepped onto the field at the Rams training camp as majority owner and team president.  From that moment, it was clear she didn’t give a frog’s fat ass what people thought of her.  She gave the tobacco-chewing head coach Ray Malavasi an “air-kiss” greeting and played catch with starting quarterback Pat Haden.  The New York Times treated this spectacle with it’s usual pseudo-intellectual hypocrisy, quipping that Frontiere “took Haden’s spirals on the edge of her fingertips in a way indicating that she happened to be a woman who’d been catching passes all her life.” The Baltimore Sun referred to Frontiere as “a rather shapely blonde.” But it was the Orlando Sentinel who cut right to the chase by calling her “a bosomy blonde who jiggles.”

Forget about her gender for a minute. There was hardly a mention of the fact that here was an NFL owner despite being well into their 50s could still throw a football and hang with the players on some calisthenics.  While it shouldn’t shock anybody the American media would do a trash-job on somebody; be it 1979 or today, it’s what they do.

To understand why, you need to remember two things about the American media, sports or otherwise. The first is that any semblance of journalistic integrity died with Walter Cronkite, and the second is that no major story in America in the last 50 years has been reported without being shackled to a political agenda of one sort or another.

In Frontiere’s case, this is critical to understanding why the media savaged her as they did.  She ascended to the presidency of NFL franchise precisely at the time the deadline had passed for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Upon the failure of that amendment, the American media immediately began beating a drum decrying the “oppression and second-class status” of American women.  The problem was that by her very existence, Frontiere was illustrating that much of the media narrative was at the very least conflated.

She made matters worse by not trumpeting herself as some sort of feminist icon; she just wanted to run a football team; the idea being that she wanted to stay busy during her period of grief and believed that is what her late husband would have wanted.  That’s also why her successes were downplayed, if not straight-up ignored.

While the media portrayed her as a meddling dowager of questionable competence and limited intellect, Frontiere in fact proved early on to be a decisive and gutsy leader. In the first instance of Frontiere being treated unfairly by the media, there was a portrayal of her as some sort wallet-driver power monger. The headlines were splashed about with a tale of Frontiere storming into the Rams’ offices in July of 1979 and summarily firing Steve Rosenbloom from his inherited duties running the team.

What was overlooked in that narrative was that Rosenbloom had stripped power from his father’s “right-hand man,” Don Klosterman, who Carroll Rosenbloom and many others in the NFL believed to one of the best general managers in football.  Rosenbloom did this without telling Klosterman, instead he sent a message to the rest of the league stating that all business dealings with the Rams should be addressed to Dick Steinberg, the Rams’ new director of player personnel.

Naturally, this created a bit of consternation within the Rams’ organization and confusion outside.  Frontiere was surprised by the move and when she came to the to the Rams’ training camp to deal with the discord it caused, the media came in sporting dorsal fins. Doing what she normally did, she spent time with the players during which she kicked some footballs off a tee.  This was characterized by The Baltimore Sun as “posing for publicity shots with her well-shaped legs.” This ignored the fact Frontiere tried extending the proverbial olive branch to all parties by offering to create a position of “chief advisor,” thus freeing him from many managerial duties to focus on executive-level decisions.  But a month later, Rosenbloom fired Klosterman and Frontiere fired Rosenbloom that same day.

Don’t tell me it doesn’t take guts to fire your own step-son…especially knowing what the media is going to say about you..

A week later, Frontiere held a press conference which was attended by more than 20 reporters along with camera crews from ABC, CBS, and NBC. Unfortunately, Frontiere arrived late causing  a reporter to state “she must have been out shopping.”

Act III – Meet Me In St. Louis

Another shaft-job Frontiere got from the media was her being blamed for the Rams move to Anaheim starting with the 1980 season.  Everybody conveniently forgot that move was set in place by Carroll Rosenbloom. But the move was terribly unpopular with the Rams fan base, and it was easier to blame “the woman” than the beloved late owner.

It didn’t help matters that Anaheim Stadium proved to be a horrible venue for football. It was originally built to host baseball, and as we’ve learned time and time again, baseball and football do not fit well into the same stadium.  In the case of the Big A,” the sight-lines were awful and many of the seats forced fans to sit at awkward angles to view the field.  But the worst part (and I can tell you this first-hand as a California Angels fan) was the stadium being further inland meant the late summer and early fall heat caused by the Santa Ana winds coming off the desert made the “Big A” a 60,000-seat blast furnace.

The “Big A” got an “F” for football.

The awful stadium, the less-than-ideal conditions, and the 30-mile commute from Los Angeles meant the fan base didn’t follow the Rams to Anaheim. The Rams’ years in Orange County were nearly a decade-and-a-half of declining attendance, running gun battles with both the Angels and the city of Anaheim…and Frontiere taking sniper-fire from the media.

Part of the deal between Carroll Rosenbloom and the City of Anaheim was a partnership in land development around the stadium, which in the late 1970s was surrounded by orange groves and other underdeveloped properties. But the California Angels’ owner Gene “The Singing Cowboy” Autry wasn’t about to let that happen. While to this day Autry is the only person to have a star on the Hollywood in all five disciplines (Motion Pictures, Television, Radio, Recording, and Live Performance/Theater), he became a billionaire by investing in real estate. As such, he became one of the most powerful people in Southern California, which meant there was no way he was letting somebody else get rich building hotels next to “his” ballpark. In other words, Autry and the California Angels successfully sued the city of Anaheim and the Rams to kill those development deals.

Eventually, things got so bad in Orange County that Frontiere entered discussions in 1989 to move the Rams back to the Los Angeles Coliseum.  That died a quick death because of the 1983 move of the Oakland Raiders into that venue, and they weren’t keen to have “roommates.”  That refusal by Raiders’ owner Al Davis, plus his demands for a new taxpayer-funded stadium would lead to both the Rams and the Raiders leaving Southern California within five years.

Naturally, the media blamed Georgia Frontiere for all this.

Maybe that played a role in the next move she made…maybe it didn’t. But what surely did was she couldn’t take the Rams back to the Coliseum, and life in Orange County wasn’t the cornucopia it was supposed to be.

During the transition of moving the team to Anaheim, Frontiere gave herself an insurance policy by acquiring the 30% of the team she didn’t own which was held by Carroll Rosenbloom’s children. With 100% ownership, she was free to do whatever she wished with the Rams, and once it was clear she wanted out of Orange County, the suitors for a NFL franchise beat a path to Frontiere’s door. Cities like Oakland, Las Vegas, Nashville, and San Antonio all showed some level of interest, but in the in the end, it was Frontiere’s home town which became the new home of the Rams.

The city of St. Louis was building a brand new domed-stadium perfectly suited for football.  The city sweetened the deal with incentives like $20 million in annual profits from guaranteed season-ticket sales, personal seat licenses, and a favorable lease. However, the NFL tried to stop the move, noting that St. Louis had been abandoned by another NFL franchise just a few years earlier when the Cardinals left for Arizona. As a result, Frontiere filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, and she won.

That meant 1995 saw the birth of the St. Louis Rams.

Act IV – The Sweet Smell of Success

Under the ownership of Carroll Rosenbloom, the Los Angeles Rams were perennial play-off contenders, but to be honest they were consistently winning a weak division. Throughout the 1970’s,  the Atlanta Falcons, the New Orleans Saints, and the San Francisco 49ers were never much of a threat to the talent-laden Rams. While they made the play-offs every year from 1973 to 1979, they just couldn’t over the hump that was beating either the Minnesota Vikings or Dallas Cowboys.  When Carroll Rosenbloom died before the 1979 season, many thought the Rams would drift off to mediocrity from losing the organizational direction he provided.

During the pre-season of 1979, Frontiere firmly established herself as the organization’s leader.  She penned a doctrine in which she made it clear she was the boss…there were literally no “ifs, ands, or buts” about it.  To clear up the mess left by Steve Rosenbloom, Frontiere believed that strong leadership would get the Rams over that hump, and in the short-term, she was right. After she posted her paper to the team, she told Sports Illustrated “Right now, we don’t have much leadership. Oh, they played well—they’re trying to earn their positions—and I’m not talking about the coaching. We have good coaching. I’m talking about the top. There are some things that have to be ironed out.”

Whatever she told the team must have worked, because the Rams finally reached Super Bowl XIV after the 1979 season. The Rams lost to the juggernaut Pittsburgh Steelers 31-19.  There was no shame in that loss; nobody else could beat the Steelers of that era.  But the Rams franchise took the next step, and Frontiere became a bit of celebrity when she appeared in an American Express commercial with the Rams players. and graced the cover Sports Illustrated.

The 1980s saw a series of ups and downs for Frontiere and the Los Angeles Rams. On the field, The Rams of the 1980s remained a perennial play-off team, reached the playoffs eight times between 1980 and 1989, although they did not return to the Super Bowl as long as they remained in Southern California. Frontiere became less “hands-on” with the organization by passing much of the daily financial and football management responsibilities on to key executives.

Things started going downhill in 1986.  Frontiere had remarried after Carroll Rosenbloom’s passing to composer Dominic Frontiere.  That year Dominic was arrested for for lying to a government agent as part of a federal investigation that came from allegedly scalping 1,000 Super Bowl tickets. While he ended up being incarcerated for nearly a year, Georgia was not implicated in any wrongdoing, but this didn’t stop the media from trashing her once again.

By the 1990s, matters were getting bleak. Attendance had fallen to 45,000 fans per game; off from a peak of 62,000. Again, this most of the Rams’ home games were blacked out, and the team had been replaced by the new “team of the stars,” the newly-arrived Los Angeles Raiders.

Naturally, the Rams’ financial health was suffering as well. Frontiere’s attempts at having stadium built in Los Angeles garnered no support from local leaders. By the 1990s, the end of the “Cold War” resulted in massive-scale layoffs by defense contractors in Southern California. As a result, by 1994, the Los Angeles Rams claimed to have lost $6 million, and made only $7.6 million during the previous four seasons. Hence the 1995 move to St. Louis.

Naturally, the media fanned the flames in Southern California, making Frontiere out to be public enemy #1 for moving the team.  But after having lost the Cardinals to Arizona, the city of St. Louis welcomed with open arms Frontiere and her football team.  The city even hosted a rally downtown and thousands of fans chanted “Georgia, Georgia!” Frontiere responded to the cheering crowd with “St. Louis is my home, and I brought my team here to start a new dynasty.”

That’s exactly what she did.  The Rams took a few years to recover from 15 years of being the “red-headed step-child” of the Southern California sports world, but once they did, the Rams emerged as one of the best teams in football in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Frontiere had an odd formula for building a winner in St. Louis, but there’s no doubting it worked.

It began with the 1997 hiring of head coach Dick Vermeil, who had been out of football for 15 years (and who has a Dubsy Award named for him). Vermeil’s first player personnel move was to trade up in the draft to pick offensive tackle Orlando Pace…who would become a consistent All-Pro and ended up in the Hall of Fame. The Rams then traded Jerome Bettis (another future Hall of Fame player)  to the Pittsburgh Steelers for draft picks.

By 1999, there seemed to be cause for optimism for the Rams. They had acquired quarterback Trent Green and future Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk in separate trades, and it looked like offensive coordinator Mike Martz finally had the makings of a winner.  That optimism disappeared when Green shredded the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee; an injury which would sideline him for the entire season.  A tearful Vermeil (hence the category of his Dubsy award) made a solemn vow the Rams would “play good football” behind Green’s backup, a 28-year-old guy named Kurt Warner.

Not only had nobody ever heard of Warner, and his pedigree for professional football seemed rather suspect. No NFL team drafted him out of the University of Northern Iowa.  His only professional experience came from stints with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe and the Iowa Barnstormers of that now-defunct sideshow known as the Arena Football League. In fact, Warner was making ends meet by bagging groceries and stocking shelves in a supermarket before joining the Rams. Most saw the Rams having yet another losing season, some even going so far as to say they would be the worst team in the league.

But the beauty of sports is that it rivals Hollywood for the ability to produce “fairy tale” stories. Something magic happened, and within weeks Warner and the Rams were the toast of the NFL.  Sportscasters dubbed them “the Greatest Show on Turf” because of their high-speed, quick-strike offense which seemed as though it could score at will. The Rams finished the 1999 season with a 13-3 record, and they cruised through the play-offs on the way to a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Frontiere and Vermeil with the Lombardi Trophy

Frontiere, Vermeil, and Kurt Warner after winning the Super Bowl

Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Atlanta that night in January 2000 was the vindication of Georgia Frontiere.  This was the pinnacle of her 28-year ownership; an era which began with sanctimonious hypocrite New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica writing bilge like “The board of directors of women’s liberation ought to keep an eye on sweet Georgia… If she continues to run the Rams, pretty soon it is going to be back into the kitchen for every woman.”

How did that Lombardi Trophy feel when she shoved it up your ass, Mike?

ACT V – Epilogue

Georgia Frontiere was the pioneer for women taking an active role heading professional football franchise. In an era of women’s liberation, Frontiere never saw herself as a feminist icon, which is why the “liberal” media trashed her at every opportunity.  In fact, one of the only times she ever spoke on the subject her words were taken by some as a “shot” at the feminist movement.

“There are some who feel there are two different kinds of people — human beings and women. As soon as a woman tries to be a human being, people think she’s trying to be a man.”

Taken out of context, you can interpret that statement several ways. What is certain is Frontiere didn’t want be a man; she wanted to run a football team the best way she could.  That’s exactly what she did. She may not have been the greatest owner in the history of the game, but she wasn’t the worst either. Her team won a championship, and there’s a lot of owners who can’t say that.

You can say whatever you want about Georgia Frontiere. After her death in 2008, minority owner Stan Kroenke acquired a controlling interest in the St. Louis Rams and moved them back to Los Angeles in 2015. In 1995, Frontiere may have been the most hated woman in Los Angeles, but a quarter-century later her name is headed for the ash-heap of history. But what can’t be argued is her commitment to her team.  Throughout her time as the owner of the Rams, it simply was not possible to attend to a Rams game and not see Georgia Frontiere somewhere in the stadium.

But that doesn’t mean she was perched in a luxury suite lording over her subjects fans separated by so much plate glass.  Georgia Frontiere preferred to mingle with the players, the fans…the people who she knew made it all possible.  On the night of the Rams Super Bowl victory, Frontiere succinctly stated the source of her desire to succeed, “From the time my late husband died, it has been a constant effort to do what he expected me to be able to do. He said ‘If anybody can, you can. You always stick to your ideas, and nobody pushes you around.’”

And nobody did.

The Moral of the Story:

If you’re going to be “the first” at something, you had better be tough.

Check out Dubsism’s Movies and Blog-A-Thons page for a full schedule of projects past, present, and future!

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Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies – Volume 87: “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” Today's Movie: Take Me Out To The Ball Game Year of Release: 1949 Stars: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly…

#Carroll Rosenbloom #Classic Movies #Georgia Frontiere #Los Angeles Rams #Movies #NFL #Robert Irsay #Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/kendall-kylie-jenner-nyc-foursome-plus-kim-kardashian-easy-cameo/

Kendall Kylie Jenner NYC foursome plus Kim Kardashian easy cameo

With their boyfriends in tow, celebrity sister duo Kylie and Kendall Jenner enjoyed a full day of shopping together.

On Tuesday, Kylie and Kendall were seen shopping around New York City alongside their boyfriends Tyga and A$AP Rocky, respectively. All four of the young stars were spotted laughing and smiling, as they hit up some of New York’s most popular retail hot spots.

While Kylie and Tyga have been an item for several years now, things have just started heating up between Kendall and her rumored beau, rapper A$AP Rocky. Although the supermodel has not yet confirmed the speculated romance, this latest shopping date further fueled the relationship rumors that have been plaguing her and Rocky for the past couple of weeks.

According to an eyewitness, Kendall even helped A$AP Rocky pick out some bling while in the jewelry retailer, Rafaello $ Co. The source told the media, “[Kendall and A$AP Rocky] were helping each other pick stuff out…Kendall also got fitted for a pair of gloves they’re working on for her.”

2017 is certainly looking to be a good year for the Jenner sisters!

Those Kardashians are a resilient bounce back from tragedy bunch, and Kim Kardashian is willing to relive her Paris robbery for some Ocean’s Eight money and exposure.

Kim Kardashian finally came out of hiding after her terrifying jewelry robbery in Paris — ironically to film a scene involving a jewelry heist in the upcoming star-studded movie “Ocean’s Eight.”

The film’s been shooting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for days, with a spate of star cameos to re-create the Met Gala for a dramatic heist scene. Kardashian was seen headed to the set with Kendall Jenner on Monday. Sources say the Met Gala scene involves the theft of a high-end necklace in a museum bathroom.

Sources confirmed Kim is in the film, although it’s not clear if she’s a victim or a famous face in the crowd. The movie’s main cast includes Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson and Mindy Kaling.

Kardashian has described how she feared she would be shot during last October’s robbery in Paris, during which thieves tied her up and threw her into a bathtub, then took over $10 million in jewelry. The ordeal left her so traumatized, she disappeared from social media for three months and canceled a series of personal appearances. She even gave up wearing jewelry.

But, on Monday, in one of her first public appearances since the robbery, Kim was back in a gown to film the scene in which the all-female cast pulls off an audacious jewelry raid.

An insider mused, “We were surprised Kim showed up for filming. She had seemed totally traumatized by her Paris robbery. But then she’ll still appear in a movie that glamorizes a jewelry heist.” Kim’s rep confirmed she has a cameo in the movie but declined to comment further.

We hear further cameos were being made in the movie’s Met Gala scene on Tuesday by Zayn Malik, Hailey Baldwin, Matt Harvey, Maria Sharapova, Olivia Munn, Tyga, the Winklevoss twins, and designers Tommy and Dee Hilfiger, Dennis Basso and Jason Wu. High-end jeweler Cartier is on-set dressing VIPs. The film also includes a cameo by Anna Wintour.

With Super Bowl LI less than a month away, more and more details about the highly anticipated half time show are being leaked to the press.

Early this week, news publication People reported some surprising details about what pop star Lady Gaga, who is the star performer at this year’s Super Bowl, is planning to do during her half time set. Insiders told the media outlet that Lady Gaga is planning a notably dangerous entrance into the stadium. According to one source, Gaga is planning to sing at the top of the NRG Stadium’s dome in Houston during her performance. While her team is reportedly “worried” about the technical and safety aspects of her unprecedented performance plans, Gaga is reportedly “all for” pushing the limits and wants to make sure her half time show is nothing like fans and viewers have seen before.

  A source close to Gaga further elaborated on the star’s ambitious half time plans to People, explaining, “They’re writing up multiple plans about how to safely get [Gaga] on the roof, including potentially [cutting] a hole in the ceiling of the dome.” The source went on to reveal that event organizers are even looking at the possibility of “airlifting” the Joanne songstress onto the top of the stadium, which currently has a see-through retractable “fabric roof” that can be completely opened in just over 5 minutes.

With only a few weeks of rehearsal left, Gaga is reportedly hoping to pull off the whole charade live. However, numerous members of the organizing team are hoping to convince her to pre-tape her grand entrance so that they can just show it as a pre-taped commercial that would air during the lead-up to the big Super Bowl LI game.

On the legal side of things, Gaga’s lawyers are reportedly going crazy “trying to figure out insurance” that will cover all of the songstress’s performance antics. The 30-year-old’s legal representatives are reportedly still trying to “figure out” what is “doable” from a safety and insurable standpoint.

Unfortunately, neither Gaga nor the NFL has commented on these latest reports leaked by Page Six. However, it is only a few short weeks before we finally get to see what Gaga actually has up her sleeve.

In the meantime, Gaga posted a short video clip of her and her team at rehearsals on her Instagram page. Alongside the post, the “Perfect Illusion” songstress gushed, “Super Bowl Rehearsal is so fun. We built a tent in my backyard with a dance floor to practice. We love you monsters, can’t wait to perform for [you]!”

Lady Gaga, Instagram post: You can see Lady Gaga, as well as the rest of the football festivities, when Super Bowl LI airs on February 5th!

“Chrisley Knows Best” star Savannah Chrisley survived a terrifying car accident on Monday.

“I got in a car accident early Monday morning because my floor mat had gotten stuck behind my pedals so I looked down for a brief second to try and get it out of the way and then I realized that I was headed straight towards the guardrails,” she wrote. “I tried to over correct but it didn’t help. As soon as I hit the guardrail my airbags came out and because of the airbags and seatbelt the injuries weren’t near as bad as they could have been,” she explained on Instagram.

Chrisley, 19, said that a number of cars passed by before anyone stopped to help her.

“What I do remember is going in and out of consciousness screaming for help and cars just continued to pass,” she continued. “It felt like I had been laying there for at least twenty minutes begging for help. And then a man stopped and ran over to me and got the police my way…so thank you to the amazing man that stopped and helped me as everyone else was passing. I have no idea who you are but thank you…I could never repay you for your act of kindness.”

“The next month or so I will be recovering from a broken vertebrae which has caused numbness in my hands and fingers and pain all throughout my neck, back, and shoulders,” she added. “While recovering physically I’m going to take time to recover spiritually and mentally as well. I want to be the best version of myself possible and that will happen. We all make mistakes…all that matters is how we learn and grow from them. I truly believe that God has used this situation to open my eyes to what is truly important in life and to put my focus back on Him in order to live the right life and be unbelievably happy.”

The Atlanta-based starlet also had a message for her critics.

“To all of you hurtful people that are saying that I deserved it and got what was coming for me,” she wrote, “you need Jesus and I’ll help by praying for you.”

Matthew McConaughey has packed on and lost a whopping 47 pounds for his latest role.

“I haven’t ever done that,” he told E! News about gaining weight for his role in “Gold,” filmed in 2015. “I said, ‘McConaughey, you have six months to say yes to whatever you want to eat and whatever you want to drink. Whenever.’ That was fun. The only thing that gets tiring is the thought of quitting. It was fortunate that I was like, ‘Oh, this is also my job, so let’s go — all green lights.’”

The 47-year-old had only previously dropped weight for films, most notably for “Dallas Buyers Club,” which earned him an Academy Award in 2015.

“My favorite food is cheeseburgers, so I was eating cheeseburgers all the time,” McConaughey said. “I was making cheeseburgers. I was trying out all these fast food restaurants that I’ve never had, or I’ve only had one time. Not that much sweets. Cheeseburgers and beer will do the trick.”

For months, McConaughey worked at adding on the pounds. He stopped exercising and became lazy, refusing to even take stairs to the second floor.

“That would be too much exercise,” he told the site.

But when it was all finished, then came the “daunting” task of dropping the weight.

“I had to be patient,” he said. “I looked at myself like, ‘This is not going to happen overnight. This isn’t going to happen in a couple or a few months.’”

Although he’s somewhat back in shape, McConaughey quipped, “I still have a couple things back here that feel like they’re renting to own.”

“Shark Tank” cast member Kevin O’Leary is running for the leadership of Canada’s opposition Conservative Party.

O’Leary is a businessman and television commentator who has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump. He said Wednesday the party needs a candidate who can beat Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and bring jobs back to Canada.

O’Leary declined to hold a news conference for the announcement, preferring social media and interviews with select media.

He’s competing against 13 lower-profile candidates. Former Conservative ministers such as Peter MacKay and Jason Kenney have declined to run for the leadership.

Trudeau remains popular in polls, though O’Leary says Trudeau is “destroying” Canada with debt.

Jerry Seinfeld and Netflix have announced a deal that will bring the star’s interview show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” to the streaming service later this year.

Netflix says new episodes of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” will premiere in late 2017 and previous episodes will also be made available. The show has streamed on Crackle since its debut in 2012.

Seinfeld will also film two new stand-up specials for Netflix to be released later this year. In addition, Netflix says Seinfeld will “help develop scripted and non-scripted comedy programming” on the platform.

Terms of the deal haven’t been announced.

“Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” features Seinfeld chatting with guests in classic cars and coffee shops.

Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar and several other awards for best supporting actress in “The Help,” was named Woman of the Year on Wednesday by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

“The Pudding is proud to honor an actress whose depth of talent has captivated audiences with her comedic wit and her graceful portrayals of the underrepresented,” the student group said in a statement.

Spencer is scheduled to be honored with a parade through the streets of Cambridge on Jan. 26, followed by a roast and the presentation of her pudding pot.

“We are humbled by her talent and are so honored that our little pudding pot will be sitting alongside Ms. Spencer’s Oscar and Golden Globe on her mantle,” Hasty Pudding co-producer Adam Chiavacci said.

In addition to her Academy Award, Spencer won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Minny Jackson in 2011’s “The Help.”

She is currently appearing alongside Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Kevin Costner in “Hidden Figures,” a film about the behind-the-scenes contributions of several African-American women in the early years of the NASA program.

She also played Johanna in the “Allegiant” movie franchise.

The award has been handed out annually since 1951 to people who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment. Previous Hasty Pudding winners include Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn and Helen Mirren. Kerry Washington was last year’s recipient.

“Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds was named the 2017 Hasty Pudding Man of the Year last week.

Hasty Pudding says it is the nation’s oldest collegiate theatrical organization, tracing its roots to the late 1700s.

John Legend, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Metallica are set to perform at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles next month.

Underwood and Urban are both up for Grammys this year. Underwood’s “Church Bells” and Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” are nominated for best country solo performance. Urban’s “Ripcord” is also up for best country album. Metallica singer James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich are nominated for best rock song for “Hardwired.”

Additional acts will be named ahead of the Feb. 12 show. It will be broadcast on CBS and hosted by “Late Late Show” host James Corden.

“Orange Is The New Black” star Taryn Manning and Netflix are shooting down a report that the actress quit the show.

In Touch magazine reported Wednesday that Manning was leaving the show because she needed to get away from her character and was planning to move from New York, where the show is filmed, to Los Angeles.

Manning responded to the report on Instagram on Wednesday, writing “quit never maybe fired but No.”

A Netflix spokesperson tells Movie TV Tech Geeks that the story is not true and Manning remains on the show.

In Touch has removed the story from its website.

Manning plays inmate “Pennsatucky” on the prison dramedy.

“Will & Grace” is making a comeback.

NBC said Wednesday that 10 new episodes are set to air during the 2017-18 season. The series will feature original stars Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally.

Series creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan are aboard as executive producers, and series director James Burrows also will be back, NBC said.

In a statement, NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt called the series groundbreaking for its witty approach to social issues including gay rights.

Discussions about reviving “Will & Grace” began immediately after the stars appeared in an election-themed reunion video last September, said Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment.

“Will & Grace” aired from 1998 to 2006 and won Emmy Awards as best comedy series and for its stars.

“Star Trek: Discovery” may or may not land on CBS All Access in May, as previously announced.

If not, it would be the second delay for this latest TV edition of the “Star Trek” franchise, which originally was promised for delivery this month.

On Wednesday, CBS Television Studios and CBS All Access weren’t conceding to a further delay. But they seemed to claim wiggle room by stating, “We will be flexible on a launch date if it’s best for the show.”

Production starts next week, they said.

They also said James Frain has been added to the cast. Frain (“Gotham” and “Orphan Black”) will play Sarek, father of Spock.

After the premiere airs on the CBS broadcast network, further episodes will be available only to subscribers to CBS All Access.

Currently in-production movie Ocean’s Eight is looking to be one of the most star-studded flicks yet. The spin-off film, which is set to debut in theatres in mid-2018, features numerous well-known actors and entertainers. From award-winning actress Sandra Bullock to feisty songstress Rihanna to Lord of the Rings heroine Cate Blanchett, the cast is packed with numerous big name stars.

Early this week, this impressive ensemble continued to grow, as reality stars Kendall and Kylie Jenner, as well as their older sister Kim Kardashian, shot cameos for Ocean’s Eight.

On Monday, the trio of sisters was spotted all dolled up, while filming their brief appearances for the upcoming movie in New York City. Based on what witnesses observed of the movie set, Kim, Kendall and Kylie’s cameo in the movie will centre on some sort of Met Gala-esque event. During filming, Kim wore a glamorous Givenchy ensemble, Kendall sported a long white Elie Sabe gown and Kylie stood out in a Vetements x Canada Goose puffer jacket.

At this point, Ocean’s Eight is scheduled to hit theatres on June 8th, 2018.

Over the weekend, supermodel Bella Hadid decided to jump on the young Hollywood bandwagon and get some permanent ink.

On Sunday, the 20-year-old visited celebrity tattoo artist Jon Boy at his New York City tattoo parlor. Here, she opted to get two angel wings tattooed on the sides of her ankles.

Shortly after inking the Victoria’s Secret model, Jon took to his Instagram to show off the latest additions to his celebrity tattoo portfolio. In a two-shot series, Jon posted pictures of the petite, dainty black wings on the outside of each of Bella’s ankles.

Jonboytattoo, Instagram post:

Jon also posted a shot of him posing with the young beauty, who was sporting a black ensemble with translucent cat eye sunglasses.

While Jon Boy was quick to share pictures of Bella’s newest tats on social media, the model herself has yet to address her latest ink. However, her silence hasn’t stopped fans from speculating what motivated her to get the two small wings tattooed on her ankles.

One of the most popular theories surrounding Bella’s tattoos is that the young model got them in order to commemorate her debut on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show catwalk (back in December 2016). The brunette beauty made no attempt to hide her excitement about landing the gig, so it isn’t all that far-fetched to assume that she got her new tats as a reminder of her huge accomplishment.

On the other hand, countless fans have been speculating that the wings symbolize the end of her recent relationship. As you may know, Bella broke up with her boyfriend The Weeknd in late 2015. Just a few days ago, the Starboy artist was seen kissing and cuddling up to former Disney star Selena Gomez. According to insiders, Bella felt “betrayed” by Selena and was shocked to see her ex already move on from their relatively long-term relationship. Inevitably, there are rumors that Bella’s wing tats symbolize the newfound freedom she has to move on to bigger and better things.

Regardless of the motive, it looks like Bella is ready for a fresh start in 2017.

Ever since his ex Angelina Jolie announced that she was filing for divorce, we have not seen many smiles from award-winning actor Brad Pitt. Fortunately, over the weekend, he finally had the chance to let loose while participating in a celebrity charity event.

On Saturday, the Benjamin Button star attended the 4th annual ROCK4EB! Event, which was held at a private home in Malibu. At the event, Brad helped welcome musical guests Sting and Chris Cornell on stage. The two musical guests sang acoustic renditions of The Police’s hit “Every Breath You Take,” as well as Soundgarden’s hit “Black Hole Son.”

According to a fellow guest at the charity event, Brad seemed to be in good spirits throughout the night. The source told E! News, “[Brad] was in a great mood. He hung out with his peeps.” One social media user posted a video of Brad introducing Chris and Sting to the stage on their Instagram page.

Vaitiarehirshon, Instagram post: Brad, Sting and Chris weren’t the only big stars at the event. This year, ROCK4EB! was hosted by comedic actor Zach Galifianakis. The event is put on every year in support of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation. Brad has a special connection to the cause, as he sits on the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Moreover, despite going through his own personal difficulties, Brad is evidently still committed to furthering the charitable work he (and his ex-wife) has become known for.

Late this past weekend, further details were released regarding the scary Paris robbery Kim Kardashian was involved in back in October.

While it was already revealed that the robbers who had broke into the reality star’s hotel room tied her up and managed to run off with several million dollars worth of jewelry, the newly released details outline what Kim told the police just hours after being robbed.

The French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche just put out an article, which includes the full police report from the night of the theft. Around 4:30 AM (promptly after the robbery), Kim told law enforcement, “I heard a noise at the door, like footsteps, and I shouted, asking, ‘Who’s there?’ No one answered. I called my bodyguard at 2:56 AM. Through the door, I saw two people arrive, plus the night man who was tied up…it’s the one with the ski goggles who stayed with me. He demanded with a strong French accent, my ring. It was on the bedside table. It’s worth 4 million dollars. I told him that I didn’t know… he took out a gun and I showed him the ring.”

Kim went on to elaborate to the Paris police, “They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. I was wearing a bathrobe, naked underneath. Then we went in the room again and they pushed me on the bed. And, it was this time, they tied me up with plastic cables, taped my hands – then they put tape over my mouth and my legs. I think they robbed me of 5 million dollars. Then they left on the run.”

Trying to give the investigators as much as insight as she could about the terrifying incident, the famous mother of 2 told the police, “I felt [the robbers] were a bit inexperienced because of the way they tied me up.”

Fortunately, a total of 10 people have now been charged in connection to the robbery and Kim seems to be doing a lot better in her post-trauma recovery.

Coinciding with the release of his latest project, Netflix’s take on A Series of Unfortunate Events, actor Neil Patrick Harris talked candidly about what his family thinks about the new show.

Over a decade ago, Jim Carey brought the role of Count Olaf to life in the 2004 movie A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, the film was not well received by fans of the book series, as well as critics. Subsequently, it took over 10 years for a studio to revive the story – which Netflix has now done.

In the first season of the Netflix series, which includes 8 episodes, Neil Patrick Harris is featured as the sinister Count Olaf – a beloved, yet intimidating role, as Series fans have long expressed their high expectations of what the character should be like on screen.

At the AOL press event, Neil told E! News that he had already won at least 2 pint-size fans over with his portrayal of the Count. Neil confessed, “[My two 6-year-old twins Harper and Gideon] loved it. They thought it was silly.” The How I Met Your Mother actor went on to elaborate, “It’s dark. They were a little freaked out at times, but just when it gets too dark, it gets silly again. So for kids who are six and up, they were a little spooked and then got a big laugh right afterwards.”

In the series, Neil sports a wardrobe of elaborate, Count-esque costumes. At the AOL event, he explained his twins’ thoughts on his crazy outfits, saying, “[My twins] laughed, they thought it was just strange. I think it’s important to not just show up as a different person, but to let them know that I’m going to be doing this and it’s going to involve a lot of physical changes and then show them pictures of the stages of the changes, so by the time they see and interact with me as someone else, it’s not too bizarre, they’ve seen the process.”

You can now watch A Series of Unfortunate Events, the TV series, on Netflix.

Just after finalizing him divorce from actress Amber Heard, Johnny Depp entered yet another legal battle.

This week, the Pirates of the Caribbean star filed a $25 million lawsuit against The Management Group, which previously managed several of his business and career ventures. According to Johnny, the organization had mismanaged his finances and committed several acts deserving of financial penalty, including outright fraudulent behavior.

In the 52-page court filing, Johnny’s legal team explained, ”As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct.”

If what Johnny accuses TMG of doing is accurate, the actor has certainly had his fair share of financial difficulties over the past while. In his divorce settlement with Amber, he ended up paying her $7 million. In addition, his ex got to keep their dogs, Pistol and Boo, their horse Arrow, as well as a Ford Mustang they shared.

Hopefully, Johnny’s filing against TMG doesn’t end up being as messy and drawn out as his divorce case was – although, it likely will.

While he may only be 2 years old, celebrity mini-me Otis Alexander Sudeikis already has something he will be able to brag about for the rest of his life.

On Thursday night’s edition of Bravo!’s Watch What Happens Live, Otis’ father, comedic actor Jason Sudeikis, revealed that his son was given a present from the one-and-only Beyoncé.

Before Otis had even turned 2, Jason was already ranting about his son’s Beyoncé obsession while doing a guest appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. On the show, Jason revealed that his son had become enamored with the talented diva after watching her incredibly impressive Super Bowl halftime performance.

Evidently, Queen Bey caught wind of Otis’ affinity for her and she decided to send him a gift for his 2nd birthday (back in April of 2016).

On Watch What Happens Live, Jason told host Andy Cohen that Beyoncé had sent Otis his very own, personalized signed photo of her. Jason went on to admit that the present “was pretty adorable” and well received by his pint size Beyoncé super fan.

Fortunately, Beyoncé’s surprise gift complemented Otis’ 2nd birthday’s theme perfectly. While on the late night talk show, Jason admitted, “[Otis’] 2nd birthday was a Beyoncé-themed party. It was great.”

If Otis plays his cards right he may just have the opportunity to meet the Lemonade star for his upcoming 3rd birthday (April 20th, 2017)!

The big news out of young Hollywood this week was the evident romance blooming between Starboy artist The Weeknd and “Hands to Myself” songstress Selena Gomez.

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Selena and Abel (The Weeknd’s legal name) were photographed cuddling up to each other after enjoying a romantic dinner date together. While their relationship is still in the beginning stages, sources close to Abel claim that he has had a crush on the former Disney star for quite some time. One insider told E! News, “Abel always had a thing for Selena. He thinks she is extremely talented and sexy. They started talking before the holidays but she has been on his radar before.” The insider went on to add, “[Selena and Abel] are on the same level with expectations and think the other is really fun. They are taking things slowly and getting to know each other.”

Despite the fact that the new Hollywood couple is supposedly “taking things [slow]”, there are rumors circulating that Abel’s recent ex, model Bella Hadid, is not too happy with him already moving on to Selena. A source close to Bella told E! News, “[Bella] is actually not over The Weeknd. She still loves him. They are on fine terms, but she is bitter about the romance with Selena. She was not happy when all of that gossip went everywhere between The Weeknd and Selena.”

The same source went on to add, “It really hurt [Bella] seeing Selena be all up on her man. She still feels like [her and Abel] have a connection.”

While Bella has yet to speak out on her ex’s new romance, she did make her feelings pretty clear through social media. Almost immediately after the photos of Selena and The Weeknd made rounds on the Internet, Bella opted to unfollow Selena on Instagram. However, the supermodel is still following her former beau on her various social media platforms.

“Bella has reached out to Abel a few times and told him Selena is using him,” says a Hadid pal. “He thinks she’s just jealous and isn’t listening to her.”

Fortunately for Kim Kardashian, the investigators handling her terrifying Paris robbery case are moving very quickly. Just a couple of days ago, French law enforcement confirmed that they had 17 people in custody, all of which were being questioned based on their speculated involvement in the theft.

Fast forward to Thursday, officials revealed that they have now officially charged four suspects.  Through in-depth questioning, the Paris Prosecutor’s office was able to charge Yunice A., 63, Marceau B., 64, Florus H., 45 and Gary M., 27. While the first three appear to have no connection to the reality star, Gary is actually Kim’s Paris limo driver’s brother.

In terms of charges, Yunice, Marceau and Florus are being accused of several different felonies, some of which include committing a robbery with a gun, abduction, and associating with criminals. Meanwhile, law enforcement only found enough evidence to charge Gary with involvement in a robbery conspiracy. The latter charge falls in line with what Paris police thought from the start: that the robbery was an inside job.

Kim’s younger sister Khloe Kardashian talked candidly about the whole ordeal with E! News’ Catt Sadler, while promoting her new reality show, Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian. She ranted, “It’s just disgusting that someone would rob anybody, whether you’re the poorest of the poor or the richest of the rich. No one deserves to be treated like that, so I think anybody should be accountable for those actions that they do.” Khloe went on to reveal that the latest development in the investigation has already brought “comfort” to Kim, as it was a “traumatic experience” for both her and their whole family.

In honor of Zayn Malik’s 24th birthday (on January 12th, 2017), singer Taylor Swift shared an exclusive sneak peek of his upcoming music video on social media.

Last weekend, paparazzi snapped photos of Zayn shooting the music video for his latest hit “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” outside of a London hotel. These pictures prompted ample speculation, as fans anxiously waited to find out if Zayn’s collaborator on the song, Taylor Swift, would also be in the video (as she was not spotted in London during the shoot).

Fortunately, Taylor put an end to the speculation – as she shared a glimpse of both her and Zayn in the video, while also giving Zayn a birthday shout out.

On Thursday, Taylor posted an Instagram picture that showed her and Zayn’s recognizable silhouettes back-to-back while in a blue-lit room. Alongside the picture, Taylor captioned, “HAPPY Z DAY.”

Taylor Swift, Instagram post:

As mentioned, Taylor and Zayn’s duet is called “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” and is one of the featured tracks on the upcoming Fifty Shades Darker movie soundtrack. A few days ago, the official Fifty Shades Darker track list was released and it included quite a few prominent artists, including Nick Jonas, John Legend, Halsey, Nicki Minaj, Tove Lo and Sia.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to listen to the soundtrack until the movie is released into theatres, which is February 10th. However, it is very likely that we will be seeing Taylor and Zayn’s music video well before then.

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