‘Round about 8:30 tonight the Snook was telling me about his crap day when we suddenly heard a noise like thunder in the distance. “What the hell? Are we being bombed?” Then I remembered. “It’s the big Aussie Idol finale!” We weren’t gonna sit there and actually watch it, of course, but we did wait til it was over and then time-shift our way through at super speed. This is where I make an embarrassing confession: Of the four previous Idol finalists, the one whose performance I enjoyed the most was Shannon friggin’ Noll. I KNOW! But you know what? He seriously has improved in the last two years. His stage presence was way better and he actually looked like a rock star moving around up there. Much as I liked Guy back in the day, his new look just isn’t doin’ it for me. So rock on, Shannon. As for the result itself, our official stated opinion was that we didn’t care one way or the other, but just as James Matheson was about to name the winner, the Snook blurted out “EMILY!” And in my secret heart, I knew I wanted it to be Kate. And YAY, I WON! Well, really Kate did. It’s funny; in all our discussions of Idol here at w-g nobody ever seemed to give her any odds at all of winning it. Emily had the touchdowns; Emily had the touching ghetto backstory; Emily had the audience support. I even think Emily is probably the better singer. What’s interesting though is that I actually preferred Kate’s version of that first single. It just sounded a little more “country” and I felt like she delivered it better. Plus she’s a battler, and this country loves a battler. And she had rockin’ cleavage tonight. Give it up for the big girl!