Matt Groening's "Life in Hell," a comic that has appeared in the Tucson Weekly for a very long time, wrapped up its run of new strips last week, followed by four weeks of "greatest hits" starting with tomorrow's issue, before disappearing from our pages (and those of other papers):

The last “Life in Hell,” Groening’s 1,669th strip, was released on Friday, June 15. For the next four weeks, editors will have their choice of strips from Groening’s extensive archive before they close up shop in July on Friday the 13, which seems oddly appropriate.

“I’ve had great fun, in a Sisyphean kind of way, but the time has come to let Binky and Sheba and Bongo and Akbar and Jeff take some time off,” Groening, 58, said by email.

“It’s hard to imagine how the business model that sustained alternative social-commentary and political cartooning for two decades (and is now all but dead) would have evolved had papers not discovered the power of Groening’s strip and its ability to attract readers,” said syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall by phone.

The popularity of “Life in Hell” opened a path for a new breed of alternative cartoonists to appear in alt-weeklies across the country, cartoonists like Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Ward Sutton, Keith Knight and Rall. It also showcased the power of sharp, biting cartoons to editors looking to attain and grow a new group of readers...

“Life in Hell”‘s newspaper count has dwindled over the years as cutbacks and consolidation forced out many features. Syndicated by Acme Features Syndicate, which Groening created, the strip hit a peak of nearly 380 papers in the early 1990s. In recent years, the strip appeared in less than 40.

Like any good scam, the trick is finding a large pocket of gullible marks that are ripe to be preyed upon.

What better place to start than at the casino?

On my most recent trip to Casino del Sol — hey, I have weaknesses; don't judge me — my peripheral vision caught site of a creepy looking wall display regarding the Oracles of Insight, Del Sol's newest attraction that is meant to point out ... ahem ... hot and ready slot machines.

There are actually two of these displays in the casino. The first is Xandrick, a blue-clad lad with a goatee and both a smirk and eyebrow raise that just adds to its creepiness, who is supposed to tell those interested which machines "have been holding back and could be ready to explode." I don't make this stuff up, people, I just spread it around for all to see.

The other, the red-garbed gyspyish Madame Fortuna, is supposed to tell you which machines have been "overflowing with payouts" as well as how much that machine MAY pay on a particular day and how much it's paid out so far.

I didn't go so far as to test out either of these oracles — my slot preference, when I play, are the penny machines that are basically like paying to watch TV while sipping a frosty beverage or two — but I believe these predictions are made in the form of either an on-screen display or some little card that spits out of a slot.

If it's the latter, just make sure not to wish to go to bed one night as yourself and wake up the next morning as Tom Hanks.

By chance, I was watching Good Morning America yesterday and learned something interesting and exciting about gas prices. I’m sure everyone’s noticed the sudden reduction in prices. At the Shell gas station nearest to my house, I saw it go down to $3.45 from $3.49 from last weekend. Apparently, we aren’t the only place in the country where gas prices are going down.

Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos reported the national average just below $3.50 a gallon, which is projected to continue lowering. On the west coast in particular, California, Washington and Oregon saw a drop in gas by 13 cents, 18 cents, and 17 cents respectively, finally bringing them below $4.00 in months. Residents in these states are expected to have an overall 75 cent reduction in gas prices within the next few weeks. All three states are recorded as having the highest gas prices in the country according to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

In this heat and based on where I live, driving is a necessity that I can’t sacrifice. So learning that gas prices are going down and will continue to do so at least for now is great news.

The video of the report isn’t available yet online, here's an article that serves as a good replacement. Also in the article is the link to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report if you’re interested in taking a look.

• Photo courtesy Arizona Athletics

This past year I have recently become a huge baseball fan. I would say it is perfect timing now that the University of Arizona Wildcats are playing extremely well in the College World Series.

The series is being held at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska and the Wildcats are definitely turning a lot of heads. On Sunday, June 17, they moved one step closer to winning the national championship when they defeated UCLA with a 4-0 win. Next, they have a rematch Florida State, who knocked UCLA out of the tournament last night, at 2 pm tomorrow, with the game broadcast on ESPN2 (possibly also online at ESPN3.com) and on the radio at 1290 AM.

Needless to say, I am proud to be a Wildcat and I am excited to what is in store for the rest of the championship!

Read more about the game from Sunday night here and take a look at the bracket. Arizona has to win one of its next two games in order to advance to the final round to win the best-of-three final games.

This week, Eric and Arnie (with a guest appearance by talking Thor) discuss Grifter (and Hawkman, briefly) and his battle against racist aliens. There's also a spectacular Joe Arpaio reference.

Today is day two of the #melvinmediawatch, as we seek to find out whether Sen. Al Melvin recommends reading the Tucson Weekly or not. Thanks go out to popular radio show host/Depeche Mode superfan Jon Justice for joining in the movement:

There's still time to help! Tweet Al Melvin (@senatormelvin) and ask him to determine whether the Tucson Weekly is worth reading or not. It's the only thing that matters.

As medical marijuana laws roll across the nation in a huge wave of compassion and choice (there are more than a dozen states considering it), there always seems to be a corresponding wave of OMG THE TEENS!!! WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT THE TEENS???? THEY'RE GOING TO SMOKE MORE POT!!! OMGOMGOMG THE TEENS!!! It verges on hysteria in some crowds, including a Tucson crowd I found myself in the midst of once.

Well, it turns out not all that many people have actually studied the effects of medical marijuana laws on teens. A couple of studies have shown that teens in MMJ states smoke more pot, but those studies didn't look at data before MMJ laws, ignoring the fact that in many of those states teens already smoked more before the MMJ laws. Now a team of researchers from Oregon State University, University of Montana and University of Colorado Denver have published an analysis looking at teen drug behavior in MMJ states before and after the laws passed.

Guess what? They found found no evidence teens smoke more pot after passage of MMJ laws. The difference MMJ laws make in teen drug behavior are "never statistically distinguishable from zero." That's Scientific for "teens don't smoke more weed just because MMJ laws pass." The proof this analysis is based on real science is clear from the fact that they used this formula:

Marijuana Useist = β0 + β1MMLst + X1istβ2 + X2stβ3 + vs + wt + Θs ∙ t + εist

Anyway, STFU naysayers. Read the analysis.

Then please run outside and yell, OMG OMG OMG THE TEENS!!! THEY AREN'T SMOKING MORE POT SINCE WE PASSED OUR MMJ LAW!!! OMG OMG THE TEENS ARE SAFE!!! IT"S OK!! CALM DOWN EVERYONE!!!

Perhaps this is news best conveyed by Jim Nintzel, since the band provided the name for his dog, but I beat him to it, so there. Wilco are coming back to town, this time playing the TCC Music Hall, with the legendary Jonathan Richman opening on September 19th. Tickets go on sale Friday via Ticketmaster. Seriously, if you want to go to this show, plan to buy tickets Friday. They will not be around for long.

UPDATE COURTESY OF LINDA RAY: There's a presale tomorrow on Wilco's site.

ANOTHER UPDATE VIA RIALTO MANAGER, CURTIS MCCRARY: FYI this will all be onsale through Ticketmaster because that's what the TCC uses... not through Rialto ticketing. And yes there's a fanclub presale, and yes, Rialto members have access to tickets Thursday via TCC/Ticketmaster.

Thanks to director Trevvor Riley for sending the latest video from Dry River Yacht Club, a band from Tempe that seem to positively recognize that there are a number of potential fans down here, playing Tucson relatively frequently.

For more info on the band, check out Gene Armstrong's feature from earlier this year.

Since it is the summer time, things have started to slow down and I have gotten in that rut of going to the same restaurants over and over again. So I wanted to try something new.

I discovered Joel’s Bistro while walking along University Blvd. and thought I would try it out with a couple of friends. It is located right in Main Gate Square surrounded by trees with a fountain in the center. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and as we entered the restaurant we were greeted with warm smiles. The relaxed and welcoming environment was great and made me feel like I was at home.

I would suggest Joel’s to anyone who is looking to try something new or to just enjoy a nice meal with friends in a relaxed environment. I am a big breakfast person so I ordered one of their veggie omelets and it was delicious. Good conversation and good food, I’m not sure what could be better.

I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, the prices are great and I think this would be a great place to bring family or friends, especially if you've dug yourself a restaurant rut, hitting the same old places.