The show is over, the confetti all swept away, but "American Idol" winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox are just getting started.

The 24-year-old singers talked with reporters in Los Angeles yesterday about what lies ahead as they launch their professional music careers.

Bowersox says she foresees a future that includes diverse music, drama and diabetes advocacy. The dreadlocked single mom from Toledo, Ohio, says she'll be meeting with record executives next week to discuss her musical future.

Discussions for DeWyze's debut album have already begun, he says.

"It's been a crazy experience, the whole album-making thing, and talking and going to the meetings about it and everything," says the shy former paint-store clerk from Mount Prospect, Ill., adding that he'll have a lot of say in the sound and also will be writing new tracks for the record.

BEYONCE VIDEO SHOOT TOO LOUD, SUIT SAYS

A man living across from a video shoot for Beyonce Knowles in the Hollywood Hills is suing the singer for nuisance and trespassing, claiming his privacy was invaded by unnecessary noise and crowds.

Court documents show Philip Markowitz filed the lawsuit seeking $25,000 yesterday in Los Angeles against Knowles, a liability company and Dina Ciccotello, a production coordinator for the daylong video shoot for "Why Don't You Love Me."

WEIGHT LOSS WAS A RERUN FOR 50 CENT

Losing 50-plus pounds was a complicated process for 50 Cent — but not an entirely new one.

The rapper, who plays a football player with cancer in the upcoming film "Things Fall Apart," dropped from 214 pounds to 160 in nine weeks after liquid dieting and running on a treadmill three hours a day.

But the 33-year-old said that when he was shot in the jaw in 2000, he could drink only liquids and his weight dropped to 157.

"This time it was a lot tougher for me," the 6-foot-tall rapper said yesterday. "I had to discipline myself not ... to actually have myself be in the physical state to convey the energy I felt. It's a passion project for me," said 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson.

The film is about a childhood friend of the rapper who died of cancer, and is in production.

STONE TO CHAVEZ: KEEP TV TALKS SHORTER

American filmmaker Oliver Stone said yesterday he deeply admires Hugo Chavez, but the Venezuelan president might consider talking a bit less on television.

Promoting his new documentary "South of the Border" in Caracas, Stone heaped praise on Chavez, saying he is leading a movement for "social transformation" in Latin American.

"I admire Hugo. I like him very much as a person. I can say one thing. ... He shouldn't be on television all the time," Stone said at a news conference.

Chavez makes near-daily speeches that run for hours, often reminiscing, lecturing about history, announcing news and breaking into song. His Sunday program can last six hours or more.