*Photo is from the Nytimes.

Special late edition of Wolf Blitzer on CNN focuses on the primaries in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico! When did Puerto Rico become a big factor? Well, now apparently, since Hill is scrambling for delegate votes and my boy Obama is poised to make history. The next few days leading up to the Democrat national convention should be interesting. It doesn’t look like the Dems are about to resolve this issue soon but hopefully the “winner” won’t be too bloodied at the end of the contest that he (or she for that matter) will be unable to take on grand daddy McCain, who looking geriatric as ever on cam, defied all odds to first become the Republican nominee, and now is poised to be a real presidential contender. Who would have thought?

Interesting articles I read in the nytimes today. One is, surprise, surprise, on Tyra Banks. Titled “Banksable,” the article by LYNN HIRSCHBERG is a blend of wit, sarcasm, criticism, while not failing to paint a fairly accurate picture of Tyra’s public (and a dash of private) persona. Loved the run on the descriptions of Tyra Bank’s smiles. Her intro line, and paragraph, is kick ass:

Tyra Banks has 275 smiles. Like a star athlete who has perfected a jump shot or a curveball, Banks has studied, honed and mastered the smile. In her arsenal are the “surprise smile,” the “angry but still smiling” smile, the “flirting with boyfriend” smile and the “commercial” smile, which, like the rest of Tyra’s smiles, was designed and perfected when Banks, who is now 34, began modeling at 15. From the start of her career, when she was virtually plucked from an all-girl Catholic high school in Los Angeles and whisked off to Paris, to her days as a mass-market first-name-only supermodel strutting the catwalk in her underwear for Victoria’s Secret, Banks always treated modeling as a kind of beautiful science. Then, and now, the smiles were her secret weapons: they could compel, manipulate, seduce. Banks did not become a model to be a muse to designers or because she loved fashion. Modeling — and smiling — was a skill that could, if engineered and managed carefully, change the course of your life.

275 effing smiles! I initially didn’t get it. How can someone have 275 smiles? But then I took a look at the photos that accompanied the article and by jove, yes, Tyra indeed smiled with her eyes, smiled with her lips, smiled with a coy, come hither look…you get the picture.

I actually don’t like Tyra that much, although I admit that if I want to have something on the TV on and America’s Next Top Model is played, I will make it ambient background in less than a heartbeat. And yes, I kinda know what the models’ names are so even if I don’t seriously watch the show, I absorb it unconsciously (yikes!).

But the article painted a well-rounded picture of Tyra as a brand wannabe. It explained her motivations pretty well, her predilection towards giving homage to her momma as a fountain of wisdom, her work ethic, her ability to do her homework and therefore excel even in the flighty world of fashion, her crusade to build self-esteems of women across America, and her financial success. Reading it, I couldn’t help but like Tyra. I don’t necessarily want to be her but I’d like to achieve what she has achieved.

Props to the writer. These are the types of articles I love to read. Seemingly fluff at first read, but with a deadly dose of wit and sarcasm.

Tyra aside, one other article that was a must-read for me was on the lawyers and their newfound role in Pakistan’s democracy. Who would have thought that lawyers could find it in them to exercise civic and moral duties in their country’s politics? Will it happen in the Philippines?

Interesting article written by James Traub. The logistics alone of following the lawyers around and putting their situation in context for a general American audience to absorb is quite the feat.

Back to Wolf Blitzer. He has Scott McClellan on. Hee hee. If I remember one of the press conferences I watched on TV where he was still press secretary, he stammered on a whole lot of questions and skirted around the issue at hand. Bush must be incensed after the book came out. And it is only now that shit is hitting the fan.

On a tiny personal note, yes, I’m back from my slumber writing about politics. It’s been a while. I’ll probably explain the momentary gap someday. But I realized, even if this is boring to some people, this is what I actually love.