I'm still not 100% healthy, even by my standards.  Nevertheless, here is some linkage to keep us all on top of the news of the semi-popular...

THE RUTLES put yet another spin on pop-music reality with a 30th-anniversary event Monday in Hollywood that included what turned out to be the first performance ever by the four members of the ersatz Liverpudlian rock group.  The Prefab Four are also appearing in Rutlemania in L.A.  Let's go to the video.

SxSW VIDEO:  Acts ranging from Sons & Daughters, the Ting Tings and X to Daryl Hall are streaming via Crackle.

BEACH HOUSE talks to Pitchfork about how the duo gelled over "that cockroach song."

THE SPINTO BAND did a set you can stream from No Love For Ned.

THE LONG BLONDES: Drummer Screech takes time out of rehearsals for a chat with ClickMusic about their new album, their live act and his first ever stage-dive.

GARY NUMAN is interviewed by the Guardian where he reveals -- among other things -- that "At heart I'm just a frustrated ... Racing driver."  That much we could have guessed.

BASIA BULAT stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via NPR.

SNORKY of the Banana Splits is Dead?  Or is it a McCartney-esque hoax?

BRITNEY SPEARS's divorced parents joined forces again last night in their continued efforts to restore normality to their troubled daughter's life.

HEATH LEDGER's uncles are speaking out against his father Kim's handling of the actor's assets, saying Kim has a bad track record of estate management.

KRISTIN DAVIS of Sex & The City is denying that NSFW pics floating around the Internet are of her, but TMZ is thinking differently.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER says that both she and her husband, Matthew Broderick, were equally upset when they learned that Maxim had voted the Sex & The City star the "unsexiest woman in the world."

OWEN WILSON & KATE HUDSON & JENNIFER ANISTON are a triangle, according to the ever-reliable Star magazine.

MAD MEL UPDATE:  Law enforcement sources tell TMZ a construction worker committed suicide at one of Mel Gibson's homes yesterday.

WINONA RYDER was spotted leaving a Hollywood store with make-up on her that she hadn't paid for, according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer.

BENICIO DEL TORO seemed like a natural to play the Wolfman in the remake of the Lon Cheney, Jr. classic, and the pic bears that out, but six-time Oscar winning makeup maven Rick Baker tells Entertainment Weekly that Del Toros already lupine looks made his way more thorny.

KRISTEN, a/k/a Ashley Alexandra Dupre, already shot footage for "Girls Gone Wild."  Her lawyer now says that Dupre was 17 when the footage was filmed, but other reports suggest she may be ten years older than she says.

AUDRINA PARTRIDGE of MTV's "The Hills" has not been on my radar screen, but NSFW Playboy audition pictures almost always are.  Call it Very Gratuitous Thursday.

ARTHUR C. CLARKE went to the big space station in the sky.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS have opened a women-only hotel in Riyadh, designed to encourage Saudi businesswomen to invest in the tourism industry.  Nevertheless, women who would like to reach the capital from remote cities will still find this task difficult to accomplish, as they are banned from driving cars.

CARTOON JIHAD against the European Union is the main subject of a new audio message attributed to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.  His last public statement was an audio message issued in December, when he urged his followers in Iraq to continue battling US troops there.  Guess he needs to change the subject.

CHINA faces an internal threat from Al Qaeda.  If only China had not invaded Iraq...

IRAN:  A new Freedom House study of Iranian textbooks finds that the Islamic Republic is teaching its children to embrace Islamic supremacism, preparing them to enter a political system that discriminates against women and non-Muslims.  Meanwhile, many Iranian youths rallied in streets across the country, shouting "Death to Ahmadinejad," in celebrations marking the end of the Persian calendar year.

IRAQ:  The NYT's John Burns took stock upon the fifth anniversary if the invasion, while VoA remembered the 20th anniversary of Saddam Hussein's chemical bombing and gassing of Iraqi Kurds in the northeast city of Halabja.  Iraq's main Sunni bloc boycotted a conference Tuesday aimed at reconciling the nation's sectarian groups, a sign of the deep schisms still facing this country.  The L.A. Times reports on the country's high-tech boom (which is one reason electricity demand continues to outstrip supply).  The AP calls Iraq the first "I-War."

PETRA UPDATE:  The plastic pedal boat once loved by a swan named Petra has been given away.

GOAT kills a prominent Montgomery County, TN pastor.

BABY GALAPGOS TURTLE:  Awww...

APOLLO, a Cooktown bull-terrier, gets testicular implants.