In my monthly ArtHop preview in today's Life section, I focus on Rebecca Caraveo's 20-year retrospective show at Spectrum Art Gallery. An adamant Francophile, she's always been in love with Paris, and many of her hand-painted photographs reflect her passion for the city.

Other ArtHop picks: Steve Norton at Gallery 25, Stephanie Pearl at City Arts Gallery and Aileen Imperatrice at the law offices of Dean Gordon.

As always, check the official ArtHop website for venues and details.

Feel free to add your own ArtHop plans as a comment on this post.

My review is in print and online today for George Clooney's "The American," which manages to even make a gorgeous Italian hilltop town seem glum:

If the idea of watching Clooney rub his brow a lot -- and sit around in gorgeously silhouetted moments while glaring at the harsh, rugged, friendless Italian rustic scenery -- sounds appealing, then you're probably on the same wavelength as director Anton Corbijn. For me, however, the film winds up little more than a vapid vanity project, a somber way for the star to "stretch" himself in a spaghetti-Western-tinged project reeking with melancholy.

Interesting, too, that the studio decided to open this film the Wednesday before Labor Day, which isn't exactly prime movie-release real estate. Not even George's name could secure a better spot.

Related tidbit: If you aren't convinced already that at least some people in this country see EVERYTHING through a polarized political/cultural lens, consider this comment on my review from a reader named "rebelmountain":

Glooney is one of the biggest hypocrites, he is very antigun ownership, but always plays an armed action hero.

Really? That's your stab at film criticism?

This sorta local accidental-death story is zipping around the country today, and the Santa/Darwinian jokes are flying. At least it happened in Bakersfield and not Fresno:

Police say a California doctor apparently tried to get into the home of the man she had been dating by sliding down the chimney. Her decomposing body was found there days later.

Talk about bizarre.

If this isn't the nail in the coffin of the rags-to-riches tale about finding Ansel Adams negatives at a garage sale, I don't know what is: The Bee picked up a New York Times wire story today reporting that a leading member of the expert team that declared glass negatives bought by a Fresno man at a garage sale were the lost work of Ansel Adams has changed his mind. From the Times story:

Robert C. Moeller III, a former curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and one of the experts hired by Fresnan Rick Norsigian to evaluate his find, said that after further review he had decided that at least some of the images Norsigian bought were taken by an unheralded photographer, Earl Brooks.

"I made a mistake," said Moeller, who was part of the team that in July announced the discovery of what it called Adams' "lost negatives."

Which makes it even better for Fresno State that the university was able to avoid a tentative commitment to exhibit the disputed negatives. That exhibition isn't going to happen, The Bee reported last week.

Such an exhibition would have raised issues about the propriety of an academic institution giving legitimacy to disputed works of art still fresh in the throes of a vigorous public debate.

The official line I was told by university officials is that all possible spaces on campus that could have been used for the exhibition were already booked. In a slightly different version of events, Norsigian's lawyer told another Bee reporter that he was the one who withdrew a request to exhibit the plates at Fresno State. (He cancelled a screening of a documentary film about the negative controversy that had been planned for the university's Satellite Student Union as well.) Whatever the exact chronology, it's apparent to me that the university lucked out by not getting involved with either the screening or exhibition. A potentially problematic issue was avoided.

Wow. If you've spent time in New York, you know how prominent the Barnes & Noble branch is at 66th Street and Broadway, just north of Lincoln Center. Along with Tower Records, which used to be across the street, it was a great place to kill some time before going to a performance or meeting friends for dinner. Now word comes from the New York Times that it's closing:

Barnes & Noble announced on Monday that at the end of January it would close the store, a four-story space across the street from Lincoln Center that has been a neighborhood landmark since it opened nearly 15 years ago.

The biggest reason, of course, is Amazon. More people are buying their books online. And the Barnes & Noble chain is in the middle of an ownership battle.

Still, there's no doubt that stores such as this serve as prominent fixtures -- places where people can congregate, kill some time, browse, drink coffee, meet friends. How many times have I headed out to Barnes & Noble at River Park to simply hang out? I find it invigorating to be surrounded by all those books, and I often find myself adding titles to my reading list because of chance encounters in the stacks. You don't get the same feeling from staring at a computer screen. I wonder, in this new online age, if a new kind of "gathering place" will evolve to replace our disappearing bookstores.

In my Sunday Spotlight column, I offer an excerpt from the latest edition of the Beehive Book Club. Here's the extended entry:

Books are amazing, aren't they? I'm in awe of them because they can be portable little worlds, all compact and self-contained, that you can drop into at any time. It enthralls me when a book wraps me up in its comfy little world as if I'm breathing its air, smelling its smells, feeling its vibrations, knowing its characters. To me, it's the tone of a book that really sells it: If, when I'm away from a book, I actively anticipate and even crave crawling back between its pages, then it's a winner for me.

I've read quite a few books since my last edition of the Beehive Book Club back in May, from classics and biographies to contemporary novels and science fiction. (Newcomers: I envision this occasional series as kind of a "virtual" club of people bound together not so much by common titles but simply a love of reading; I tell you what I'm reading, and you tell me, and we get a sense of satisfaction by knowing there are other people out there who love text in an image-based world.) The title that sticks in my mind is a definite oldie: W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage," a wallop of a novel. It isn't the cheeriest experience, mind you. Maugham is no hyperactive optimist. Yet this amazingly meaty, compelling story of a club-footed orphan boy growing up in late 19th Century England isn't just doom and gloom.

Had a blast last night at last night's Fresno Greek Fest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church. Bumped into a bunch of people I knew, sampled some wonderful food, and marveled at the newly unveiled Pantocrator painting by Russian artist Valery Butyrsky on the church's ceiling. (It was like being there opening day at the Sistine Chapel.)

Joan and Mike have already featured the festival on the Beehive -- and I third their recommendation. It's a happy, delicious time. Some quick pics from last night, continued on the jump:

This little girl gets into the dancing mood. Tonight the music will go until midnight.

Word was going around town a few weeks ago about a big, catered party that made lots of people sick. The rumor was food poisoning. In this bulletin, Bee writer Jim Guy reports:

A norovirus spread by someone who went to a party last month was the likely cause of illness among several dozen people who attended, Fresno County's environmental unit said.

About 37 people reported becoming ill after the July 31 event, which was attended by about 50 people, said Stephanie Kahl, supervising environmental health specialist.

Let's hope word gets out that the local Fresno businesses that catered the party -- and took the brunt of the rumors -- weren't at fault. Personally, I think people often unjustly blame food poisoning for illnesses that have other causes, and that innocent restaurants sometimes get smeared in the process.

It's got to be "13." Three performances of this Children's Musical Theaterworks production remain: 7:30 p.m. today, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Lynn Cooper, who won our Facebook ticket giveaway for the Thursday show, wrote me last night:

Mr. Munro, two weeks ago I was sitting in a theatre in London wishing a play would hurry up and end; in Fresno tonight I was wishing a play would never end. Absolutely loved "13"! The cast was amazing! Thank you again for the tickets.

Another theater option: An original one-man show, "Kevin Harris Explains Himself," premieres 7 p.m. today and plays 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday at the Broken Leg Stage. (Update: An inaccurate press release was sent to The Bee saying that performances were 7 p.m. today and 10 p.m. Saturday. It was supposed to read 7 p.m. both days. Harris says that he'll do a 10 p.m. performance on Saturday if people show up, however.)

There's other good theater out there, too, including the final performances of "Of Mice and Men" and the ongoing "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Dreamgirls."

My Facebook friend Leslie passes this along and writes:

If you ever think the world is an unfixable mess - just take a stroll on any college campus. Those kids will restore your faith in our future.

I agree, Leslie. I love this video. As the character Princeton in the musical "Avenue Q" sings, "I wish I could go back to college ..."