Jezebel: grandmas

Awesome Aussie Grandmas Perform Sex Pistols Song

Margaret — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:40:00 EDT

In the video above, a group of Australian women over the age of 80 perform the 1977 song "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols, which was originally titled "No Future" and banned by the BBC. It's part of artist Christoph Büchel's exhibit "no future" at the Sydney Biennale 2008. The ladies were given an open gallery space and told to rehearse the song whenever they wanted. Modern art would probably be a lot more exciting if every gallery featured a group of grannies performing punk rock.

British Grandma Is Literally Running Around The World

Jessica — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EDT

Despite frostbite, double pneumonia, a breast cancer scare, and nearly 30 marriage proposals from miscellaneous strangers, Rosie Swale-Pope, 61, is only a few hundred miles from completing her 20,000 mile around the world journey. She started out in 2003 at her home in Wales after the death of her husband from prostate cancer, reports the Times of London, and has subsequently run across the continents, and sailed the intervening oceans. Of her 29 marriage proposals, the self-effacing Rosie says, “I think most of them were simply because I looked strong and handy for hauling logs and things. I had nine in Poland alone.” This isn't Swale's first time in the press for her death-defying feats. In the '70s, she made headlines for yachting around the world — and sailing through the Caribbean in her birthday suit. Her more recent round-the-world trip will land her in the Guinness Book of World Records, and included two filling-cracking winters in Siberia.

Though the physical hardships were many, Swale remains "full of beans." In a way, her voyage has really been an extremely long and arduous musing on the nature of grief, as she did embark on this in the wake of her husband's death. "The purpose of my journey has been to highlight the preciousness of life. I had to do something and this was a small thing really — just putting one foot in front of the other."

Adventurer, 61, Lands In Britain For Last Leg Of Her Global Run [Times of London]

Remember Latarian Milton, the 7-year-old...

Tracie — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Remember Latarian Milton, the 7-year-old who stole his grandma's car for a joyride because he wanted to "do hood rat stuff"? Well, he's in trouble with the po po again, this time for beating up his grandmother, Vikkita Stratford, his guardian, after she refused to buy him chicken wings. The two were at a local Wal-Mart, and after he was told he couldn't have chicken wings, he went up to the counter and ordered them anyway. When Stratford tried to reprimand him about it, he snapped, and physically attacked her. Later in the day, the police picked Latarian up at his grandmother's home and took him to an area hospital, where he will be detained for 72 hours for a mental health evaluation. Seriously, this kid is the embodiment of that Chris Rock joke when he says, "If a kid calls his grandma 'mom' and his mom 'Pam,' he is going to jail." Except it's not funny because it's true. [WPBF]

Pants On Fire

Slut Machine — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:45:00 EST

Granny panties: They're not just for comfort, they also can save your life. After a kitchen fire started in the northern England home of Jenny Marsey, her son and nephew reached for her size 18-20, high-waisted, cotton briefs laying on top of the laundry pile, and used them as a fire blanket, successfully extinguishing the flames. Of her life-saving knickers, Marsey said: "I call them my emergency ones. They're the ones you wear when you've run out of all your others!" [The Guardian]

Size Zeros: Too Hungry, Fragile To Hump?

amparry — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:30:00 EDT

Pro-ana's take note — striving to be a size zero is not only crappy for your health, but also for your sex drive. New research indicates that super-skinny women have lower libidos, not to mention fear of breaking bones during the act itself. [Daily Mail]
When does being shy about eating in public evolve into a full-blown eating disorder? Some girls suffering from anorexia say that their eating disorder initially started with a discomfort with eating in front of other people. Interesting. We're way more cruel and judgey towards women who have water with lemon for lunch. [USA Today]
An increasing number of women are getting surgery and laser treatments post-pregnancy to get their bodies back, with 67% of women polled saying they're rather get back their pre-baby body than their pre-baby sex life. Well duh, that's because they know the pre-baby sex was what got them all stretch-marky in the first place! [MSNBC]

An Aussie mom who got in-vitro and wound up with two babies instead of one is suing the doctor that implanted two embryos in her womb instead of the one she requested. She's suing for $332,000 — the cost of raising a child to age 21 — saying she and her husband even considered putting one child up for adoption because of the extra cost. We can see the fights now — "Mommy, I'm the one you wanted to give away aren't I? Aren't I?!" [MSNBC]
At least 10% of girls in England have been infected with HPV by the age of 16. Government health advisors have recommended that the HPV vaccine be given to pre-pubescent girls in order to fight the infection which can lead to cervical cancer. [Daily Telegraph]
School district officials in Toronto have got the same idea, wanting to administer the vaccine to all Grade 8 girls, but the Catholics are all up in arms, saying that doing so would encourage sexual activity amongst teens. Seriously, odds are even Mother Theresa had HPV — the Catholic Church needs to get their head out of their sanctimonious ass. [CTV.ca]
Some outraged students are saying that Astria Suparak, Art Director for a gallery at Syracuse University, was fired from her position because of controversy surrounding the feminist installation "COME ON: Desire Under the Female Gaze". Apparently the original title included the word "feminist", which Suparak's superiors demanded she change. Since when is feminist a dirty word? [The Daily Orange]
Did you know that it's a crime to not water and mow your lawn? Yeah neither did 70-year old Betty Perry who's being charged with resisting arrest and not maintaining her landscaping. In a scuffle with police, granny fell and bloodied her nose and by the way, all of this took place in Utah, where real criminals, like child raping polygamists, hang out. Ugh. [CNN]
Remember when your ex-boyfriend insisted that he had to use Magnums because regular condoms "just don't fit right"? Well, turns out maybe he wasn't lying — condoms are not "one size fits all". [Science Daily]
Breast cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy find that their bones age prematurely as a result of the treatment. Sigh. Why couldn't today be a good news for people with breast cancer day? [Reuters]
A Wisconsin bill which gives rape victims access to emergency contraception actually includes an amendment that would allow medical personnel to refuse to administer it if it "offends" their religious beliefs. What's next? Catholic doctors can refuse to treat Jewish gunshot patients because they don't believe Jesus was the messiah? [The Capital Times]
A 70-year old Muslim woman is being sentenced today for her role in the "honor killing" of her son's wife — she and her son orchestrated her daughter-in-law's death after they discovered she was cheating on and planning to leave her husband. We love Sally Field, but this kind of refutes her theory. [Daily Mail]