Seu Jorge did some brilliant covers of some David Bowie songs for Wes Andersons film "The Life Aquatic". They're in Brazillian Portugeuse and, from the mouth of Bowie himself "Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs acoustically in Potuguese I would never heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with". See! They are good!
On the subject of film remakes, some can be good, Peter Jacksons "King Kong" being the most recent and high profile example. David Cronenbergs version of "The Fly" and John Carpenters remake of "The Thing" were both much creepier, more intelligent and better executed than their respective originals.
Of course, "Hollywood" has recently become obsessed with remaking Asian films, most of them being poor in comparison to the originals, despite reaching wider audiences.
Oh, and hi. I've been reading this site and (sometimes) these forums for years, but only recently decided to join out of boredem and lonlieness.