Links Aplenty

Slow news days (like this one) are a good time to probe deeper, reading up on important stories the details of which you might normally miss. That said, you'll find precious little to help you do that in this post.

Senator Affleck (D-Va.)?

From Japan, sing along with Suntory's Bubble Man soda, enjoy hours of fun exploring their line of quirky beverages (my favorite is Caffeine Shiki), and check out the new Starbucks drink they're distributing; it's the coffee giant's first designed for and sold exclusively outside the U.S.

In more coffee news, New Orleans coffee industry grinding back after storms.

China's Xinhua has a brief slideshow of exceptionally clever, suggestive-yet-worksafe ads.

New video from the Happy Mondays.

In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez's "socialism of the 21st century" inches closer by the day to fulfilling the elected despot's dream of wrecking the increasingly impoverished country. And, not that he cares, but his Zogby numbers aren't looking so good either.

Co-opted from England's David Beckham, as all male fashion is, natch, the phenomenon of metrosexuality has made its way to India (don't take my word... start clicking), China and South Africa.

[Cross-posted at The Agitator.]