Richard Chamberlain, before the botulinum toxin made him something more of a Madame Tussaud Wax Museum runaway.

Richard Chamberlein’s version of the song is actually good: despite the fact that its orchestration, backing vocals and Chamberlein’s deep voice tune inevitably show the mood of the time, the cheerful piano chords and the subtle bossa-style percussion give a sorta delicate and refreshing mood to it.

Richard Chamberlain – “They Long To Be Close To You” (from Twilight of Honor album)

The Carpenters: the pioneers of the pop music duos we can't seem to get rid of nowadays.

The Carpenter’s rendition of the song is so famous and emblematic that any comment made about it will sound pretty obvious. Be the incredible balance of its rhythm, the utterly precision of the various melody cues or the charm of the brothers-singers, everyone has already said something about this undoubtedly wonderful song. But I bet most of you didn’t know that there is a second version of the song, a longer one on which the brothers bring a kind of an encore of the chorus. Listen it for yourselves below.

The Carpenters – “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (from Close To You album)

The Cranberries: why didn't they choose some fruit that is available on the whole planet, like, oranges? The Oranges. Well...I've changed my mind.

In The Cranberries’s cover of the hit the strings disappear to give room to the band’s characteristic pop, rock and folk fusion: mellow guitar and bass riffs and some harmonica blowing makes the whole basis of the soft and quiet melody. It’s not as beautiful as the Carpenter’s brilliant recording but it’s surely the less obvious among so many covers recorded until the present day.

The Cranberries – “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (from No Need To Argue (The Complete Sessions 1994-1995) album)

DC Comic's reboot got rid of the red trunks of Superman's costume and left everything else untouched. I must send them this Drew Pare shot to show them that they should have done just the opposite.

Piercing blue eyes, unbelievable boyish smile, gorgeous face, flawless ripped physique. He is undoubtedly perfect, though that is usually a bit problematic too: these Clark Kent/Superman types always lose most of their sex appeal because of their utterly perfect beauty. However, Drew IS sexy, so he is a bit of an outsider (uh, got it?) among these faultless beauties. Because it’s impossible not to look to this guy. You know when you lose touch with reality for some moments on a bus, in a trance-like state. That’s how you might feel when you look to him. You feel lost, astonished, surrendered and bewitched by his enthralling beauty and then some VERY nasty thoughts might come to your mind…like slowly licking his entire body covered in pure honey. NO! People, sorry! That’s so embarrasing! You see? He’s a devil! That’s not how I am! I’m a pure, innocent christian boy. Forget everything I just said, ok? It would be just wrong, wrong and completely sinful to do this with honey! It would disturb the taste of his white smooth skin!

So, let’s break the spell. Well, in fact, let’s get even more under Drew Pare’s spell with more than 80 photos of this amazing stud on my Picasa album. Just click here and have fun! ;)

P.S: rumour has it that Drew Pare is possibly in talks to play a character on a supporting role on series Glee. Though I find this show utterly boring and hugely embarrassing, it will be good for Drew to boost his career as a model, even if he does not succed as an actor – the boy deserves it, doesn’t he?

I have the impression that this is the only overcoat that Mercedes Sosa wore on her entire life. Ironically she was not buried with it.

Mercedes Sosa cover of the song is entirely based on acoustic guitar and the singer’s crystalline voice which echoes in a sad tone throughtout the melody, increasing its contrast with the peaceful joy of the verses.

Mercedes Sosa – “Gracias a La Vida” (from Homenaje a Violeta Parra album)

Seems that this was not a happy hippie day at the beach for Joan Baez and her guitar.

When American singer Joan Baez introduced in 1974 a more vivacious arrangement based on percussion and different types of guitars, she not only left off the earlier sadness but also enlightened and highlighted the song’s Andean origin.

Joan Baez – “Gracias a La Vida (Here’s To Life)” (from Gracias a la Vida album)

I can't say anything funny about Elis Regina, she was perfect. Her daughter, on the other hand...

Legendary Brazilian singer Elis Regina gave to the song a very particular light: relying on the original sadness, she sings it with the strong mourn and grief of a powerful spanish chantress over a melody that borrows from both Brazillian’s country roots and Latin laments.

Elis Regina – “Gracias a La Vida” (from Falso Brilhante album)

The oh-so-beautiful hippie Mia Doi Todd: not to be mistaken with Joan Baez's hippieness.

On her latest album, which is heavily based on Latin and Brazilian music, American singer Mia Doi Todd restores the song’s quiet essence basing its melody on a subtle percussion and melancholic guitar chords, thus leaving all the remaining space to her enchanting, mysterious and warm voice – it’s also the only one among these four versions to introduce a brief interlude where a serene synthesizer flows calmly.

Mia Doi Todd – “Gracias a La Vida” (from Cosmic Ocean Ship album)

I wish I worked at this office where Steve Boyd feels so comfortable to wear his suit like that.

But since I want you to feel as suicide as me, here it is: a full album of Steve Boyd’s delicious photos (with 130 pictures, to be precise). Have fun! (or pick up your Prozac pills, folks!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yes, this title sequence is a bit over the top with it’s Jesus statue that comes to life but it is true that the scene conveys the creepy mood and gives a hint about some religious and supernatural elements that are part of the story but actually the title scene betrays the audience in the very essence of its existence: the title of the movie itself. The name given to this film does not reflect what the movie really is. Despite the fact that the film is lead by a character from the first “The Exorcist” and another one has an important role on the solution of the plot, this 1990 movie directed by the writer of “The Exorcist” and the novel in which the movie is based is not a sequel of the story of the first movie, nor even of the second and horrible one. Though the plot of the movie deals with possession and is even closed by an exorcism sequence “The Exorcist III” is a crime thriller about the investigation of murders committed by a serial killer, something that was already known by fans of the writer/director William Peter Blatty, since this is the plot of his novel “Legion”, in which the movie is based on. As many other things on this movie, the title and the exorcism sequence which finishes it were imposed by the studio that produced the movie as a way of justifying the idea that this is really a sequel to “The Exorcist” and to give it a commercial appeal which they thought was infallible. However, the audience not only detected that the studio was trying to deceive people marketing it as a sequel they also realized that the movie was really awful because of all the interferences made by the studio and as a result, the movie failed miserably on theaters. It’s a shame: if the movie was developed following its real nature and identity, maybe we could have had at least a good entertaining thriller.