My thoughts on American Idol:

• Diana: One hell of a voice, especially for a 16-year-old. And very cute. All the same, she's 16. What kind of depth of life experience can she have? And as much as she's a great singer technically, she's not a great performer. She can't command the stage like Fantasia. She can't dance. She's like a Mariah Carey/Celine Dion/Whitney Houston...give her a song and she'll belt it out, standing there all the while like a beautiful flower. If she wins, I expect they'll give her a makeover and a boob job like Kelly and make her another gorgeous belter with a bunch of power ballads.
  
  This all being said, I like her. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if she won.

• Fantasia: I read an article on MSNBC that contains the following quote:
  "Even putting aside Diana’s more impressive struggle to stay in the game, there’s another reason why she should win: Fantasia’s voice, frankly, is unpleasant to listen to. There is a strange phenomenon in music known as She Is Wildly Talented But I Can’t Stand Listening To Her Sing, and that is the category to which Fantasia belongs. You can’t miss the power of her voice or the flourishes she’s capable of. She’s substantially more advanced than Diana, speaking in terms of sheer power and technical facility. Fantasia also has a lot of personality, particularly if you like loud. But the fact remains that her voice is more impressive than it is pleasing. The tone is grating and not hospitable to melodies, and for all the rips at Diana’s youth, something about Fantasia’s voice has a distinctly irritating little-girl quality of its own."
  
  That being said, Fantasia is NOT another Whitney/Celine/Mariah knockoff. She is insanely original. She is gutsy and ballsy. And damn but doesn't she control the stage and know how to work it. She also is capable of bringing down the house and bringing people to tears. So should she win? Probably. Will I like listening to her on the radio, singing "I Believe" with the gospel choir? (I heard this morning that they've cut singles of the two finalists; whoever wins will have the single sent to radio immediately.) Probably not.

Can't wait to see what happens tonight.