I've long been an inteeense fan of Shu Uemura's skin care line—I don't wear much makeup but I'll buy the hell out of some good face cream. And I don't care what clothes you wear or how much of that stifling foundation and powder you slather on your face: good skin's always going to be pretty important. (Especially when you're 40.)

In October, Shu Uemura will introduce two special eye treatments as a solution to fine lines, dark circles and puffiness to their outstanding line of skin care products. Shu Uemura's skin care line has long been known for their depsea component: a moisture formula made with ingredients found in the deep seas below a depth of 200 meters—or so they say.

I recently tested out their depsea moisture replenishing eye gel ($45), a fresh watery gel that's supposed to moisturize and reduce puffiness and signs of fatigue. While I'm not so sure it succeeded in making me look, say, un-tired, it did feel great on the the eyes, a tender area that tends to feel tight and dried out no matter how many eye creams (and I have many) I layer on. Best part is, you can slap on the eye gel over make-up for a quick pick up.

The other product I've yet to try out, is the depsea moisture replenishing eye mask ($45). It basically resembles two moist cotton pads aimed at replenishing the skin that you place over your eyes for five minutes.

Along with these two eye products, Shu Uemura introduces their rouge unlimited creme matte ($23). While you usually think of matte lipstick as dry, powdery and creased, Shu Uemura's new rouge unlimited is both creamy and has a fine matte finish. The line comes in ten beautiful shades of pinks, wines, reds and browns, that all the gals in the office loved.

If you're still not sure, ease yourself into the wonders of Shu Uemura with their highly-acclaimed lash curler (I have NO. LASHES. And this worked wonders on me) and luxurious feeling cleansing oils.

Visit the Shu Uemura store in South Coast Plaza (right across from the MAC store in the downstairs Saks Fifth Avenue wing), 3333 Bristol, Costa Mesa, (714) 957-0521; www.shu-uemura.com.

Last weekend, The Orange County Register reports, Steve Rocco was busted for stealing a bottle of ketchup from a cafeteria at Chapman University. He was observed taking the bottle by a security guard who alerted police, who cited Rocco for misdemeanor theft, for which he will have to pay a $250 fine if convicted by the justice system, a system that, as Rocco has personally revealed and first reported here, is secretly controlled by the Partnership, a shadowy cabal Rocco first came across back in 1981 when he was busted for stealing several rolls of Kodak film and a Smoke Craft sausage at an Albertsons store in Santa Ana.

Convicted of that theft by a judge and jury controlled by the Partnership--which in turn is controlled by, you guessed it, Albertsons, Kodak and Smoke Craft sausage--Rocco dedicated his life to unveiling this dark conspiracy.

Well, that, and selling stuff at swap meets and running for local school-board races that he never won until four years ago, when he beat a union-backed candidate to become the wackiest member of the already-wacky Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees. Ever since, he's been an enigma, showing up for meetings in dirty clothes, a funky hat and sunglasses, mystifying the public with his bizarre rants about the Partnership.

Click on the Rocco Loco archive for this blog and check out our past stories, including a post about Fred Smoller, the Chapman University professor whom the Reg reports is about to unveil his Rocco documentary, which is likely why Rocco has been visiting the Orange campus recently.

Hello Sirhan. My name is Diana Rohrabacher.

​While the nation struggles with two wars, financial disasters, devastating hurricanes, regular political sex and ethics scandals, ridiculously priced gas and global warming, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) has been busy attempting to solve the already solved 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

According to a September 25, 2008, Pasadena Weekly article by Carl Kozlowski, Rohrabacher believes that Los Angeles police have for 40 years hidden the fact that Sirhan Sirhan, the lone man convicted of shooting Kennedy, worked as part of a "real conspiracy" of Arabs.

Why? Well, Rohrabacher--a rabid right-wing Republican who has bragged to me and other reporters about his, uh, longtime personal ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)--claims he was in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles for a party at the same time Kennedy was murdered in the kitchen.

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In addition to subscription drops, ridiculously wasteful advertising schemes, constant management blunders and savage cuts to the newsroom budget, The Orange County Register is battling a wage-and-hour class-action lawsuit filed by the good folks who deliver the newspaper to homes and businesses each morning. Those carriers claim the Register improperly classified them as independent contractors to avoid providing meal breaks, overtime pay, minimum wage and other benefits. I'm not here to take a side--haven't read the briefs in the case or conducted a single interview.

But there's one part of the case that can't be ignored. This month, Orange County Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez handed a bizarre gift to Daniel J. Callahan, the carriers' cagey lawyer. Callahan (pictured above) sought to block the Register from reporting "on anything" relating to the case, on any of the attorneys in the case, on the Register's messy finances and on economic difficulties facing the "newspaper industry as a whole."

Velasquez (perhaps thinking he was in Mao's Communist China) approved Callahan's proposed order.

With the help of Davis Wright Tremaine--one of the premier First Amendment law firms in the nation, the Register won a quick, slam-dunk reversal yesterday from a California Court of Appeal based in Santa Ana.

According to a three-member panel, Velasquez--a former prosecutor--issued an unconstitutional order.

Prohibiting a news organization from publishing is the "most serious and least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights," the justices wrote. "Such an order is a most extraordinary remedy that may be used only in exceptional cases . . . where the evil that would result from the reportage is both great and certain and cannot be militated by less intrusive measures. The United States Supreme Court has offered two examples of the sort of exceptional situations in which a prior restraint might be justified: to prevent the dissemination of information about troop movements during wartime or to suppress information that would set in motion a nuclear holocaust."

I'm going to venture a guess that the Register case has nothing to do with troop movements or igniting a nuclear holocaust.

The panel ordered Velasquez to vacate his mind-numbingly laughable order.

But questions remain: What in the hell was Velasquez--a supervising judge, no less!--thinking? Is Velasquez buddies with Callahan, an incredibly well-connected power player? Can the Register get a fair trial with the now-tainted Velasquez on the case?

-- R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly

Pull Your Pants Up!, The Victorians, Western States Motel, Meho Plaza, 10 p.m.
Too hot for pants.
The Prospector
2400 E. Seventh St.
Long Beach, CA
562-438-3839

All the Water That Will Ever Be, Is, Right Now, 11:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Drink it in.
The Irvine Museum
18881 Von Karman Ave., Ste. 100
Irvine, CA
949-476-0294

'80s White Trash Disco '90s Grunge Hip-hop, 9 p.m.
A lot of ground to cover.
Blue Beet Cafe
107 21st Place
Newport Beach, CA
949-675-2338

Kelly Boyz country dance lessons and Kelly Rae Live, 7:30 p.m.
Electric slide on in.
OC Tavern
2369 S. El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA
949-542-8877

Setting: West Hollywood Book Fair, 'round noon, Librería Martínez booth.

Protagonists: Me, Librería Martinez volunteer Jess Baudillo, and a gaggle of gals from the Mission VIejo Public Library.

Scene: They had just invited me to speak at some author's festival they're proposing for next year. I, having a new book to hawk, graciously accepted. I told them I had a successful book signing a couple of weeks ago sponsored through Librería Martínez.

Silence.

"You've never heard of Librería Martínez?" Jess asked incredulously.

Silence.

"What is it?" one of the librarians asked.

I start naming its attributes--the legendary authors that visit again and again (Sandra Cisneros soon!), the Macarthur Genius-winning head Rueben Martínez, the wonderful books, the fact that it's a shining jewel in SanTana...

"Oh, we don't travel north of the El Toro Y," one lady laughed, half-serious, half-smugly.

Jess and I looked at each other painfully. Folks, it's somewhat acceptable if the average Juan and Jill have never heard of Librería Martínez, but for LIBRARIANS TO NOT KNOW ABOUT A WORLD-FAMOUS BOOKSTORE IN THEIR OWN PINCHE COUNTY gets to the heart of our Sunkist memories. It's almost as stupid an oversight as the Huntington Beach Fourth of July parade organizers who at first denied a parade permit to Sylvia Mendez of Mendez vs. Westminster fame because the civil rights icon didn't possess enough "entertainment value." I'm sure the ladies personally are alright, but professionally, they're pendejas (in the literal sense of the word--look it up!).

Afterwards, Jess and I discussed what happened. "Think they'll visit Librería Martínez now that they know?" I said.

Silence. And we moved on to talk with folks from across Southern California--young, old, none librarians, all wonderful folks, white, black, Latino--looking to speak with Mr. Martínez.

It's not everyday one receives a press release on green sex toys in their inbox.

Lisa S. Lawless, the CEO and founder of internet-based company Holistic Wisdom, Inc., has been pushing for an environmentally conscious movement in the sex toy industry. She stresses the importance on knowing what sex toys are made of in addition to the ingredients in personal lubricants—and yes, it is apparently possible to recycle your worn out vibrator. Or... butt plug. Or what have you.

Holistic Wisdom's official website has tons of sexual health articles (mostly linking holistic health with sexuality) and care guides on how to make the most of your favorite toys.

And an added bonus after the jump, lucky reader: an AIM discourse between Calendar Editor Tom Child and I on environmentally responsible sex toys.

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Weekly contributing writer Dave Barton and his friend Greg Adkins directed and edited this moving No on Prop 8 clip, currently making the rounds of YouTube and even the Daily Kos. The lines being read are from 1 Corinthians. And of course you already knew that Proposition 8 is the November religious-fundie ballot measure that seeks to ban re-ban gay marriage in California...

Flogging Molly; Loved Ones; Beat Unicorn, 8 p.m.
Note: HOB does not promote the beating of unicorns.
House of Blues
1530 S. Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim, CA
714-778-2583

The Shout, 9 p.m.
Twisting is also encouraged.
Canyon Inn Sports Bar And Grill
6821 Fairlynn Blvd.
Yorba Linda, CA
714-779-0880

Robert Pokorny, until November 9
As the primary illustrator of the instore show posters for beloved Long Beach music store Fingerprints, Pokorny’s conceptualized visions of independent music icons—running the gamut from Sonic Youth to Jack Johnson—have been collected by music lovers for more than a decade.
Open
2226 E. Fourth Street
Long Beach, CA
562-499-OPEN

Manic Mondays, 10 p.m.
Wish it were a Sunday.
Proof Bar
215 N. Broadway
Santa Ana, CA
714-953-2660

Last year, I gave a speech for some section of the Democratic Party of Orange County--I can't remember if it was the Foundation, Young Dems, or something, but it was at the Hacienda in SanTana. It wasn't well-received if I remember correctly through the haze of Maker's, mostly because I urged the younger Dems in the audience to not follow in the footsteps of their corrupt predecessors--Robert Battin, a couple of other supervisors, and the like (I'll never forget OC Dem boss Frank Barbaro's long face and tart correction of me when I flubbed a name or date--again, the Maker's). But as long as some of the young Democrats in the crowd got my message--break away with the cronyism and appeals to party loyalty--then I considered it a success.

Months later, I now know my speech was an utter failure. Nothing else can explain why the Orange County Young Democrats have endorsed Papi Pulido for mayor of SanTana. Papi Pulido, the Napoleon of Orange County politics, the man who has done...what exactly? in his more than 20 years at SanTana City Hall other than save his family's muffler shop. Papi Pulido, who never met a conflict of interest he didn't jump into with the same gusto Uncle Scrooge swam with in his gold coins. Papi Pulido, who's notorious for never making appearances in public unless he's guaranteed a positive reception.

The funniest thing about the OCYD's endorsement is that one of their own, Michelle Martinez, is also running for SanTana mayor. Can one of you Young Dems explain the rationale here?