Noah

[The elevation of the highlands] together with greatly increased snowfall on the northern mountains caused unprecedented floods each spring throughout the Euphrates valley. The spring floods grew increasingly worse so that eventually the inhabitants of the river regions were driven to the eastern highlands. For almost a thousand years scores of cities were practically deserted because of these extensive deluges.

Nearly five thousand years later, Hebrew priests in Babylonian captivity tried to trace their lineage through Abraham back to Adam and finding the task impossible decided to flood the world for its wickedness instead and trace Abraham back to a surviving son of Noah.

Traditions of flood covering the earth are universal among cultures. But there never has been a time when the entire earth was covered with water. Hebrew priests made up the story Noah and the flood during the period of Babylonian captivity.

But there really was a man named Noah, and he really did live.  The real Noah was wine maker who lived by the river and kept records of the annual flood. The real Noah brought ridicule upon himself by going up and down the river urging all houses be built of wood in the fashion of boats and that the animals be brought into the boat houses each night as flood season approached.  He went to neighboring settlements every year to warn them to expect flood within so many days, and finally there came a season augmented with unusually heavy rainfall that wiped out all the houses in all the settlements except Noah's .

paper 78 violet race after the days of adam  (874.8) 78:7.3 

That is an interesting take. According to this, whatever contribution the Hebrew priests made to existing texts they encountered in their captivity it sure is a ripping tale. And it is better than Darren Aronofsky’s reinterpretation of the story of Noah.

Nevertheless the film is doing great although not everybody is crazy about it.

Nine Problems with Aronofsky’s "Noah" Breitbart
Twelve Things Wrong with Darren Aronofsky's 'Noah'  Vice (mostly silly)

* sin of primitive fracking
* sin of overpopulation
* sin of animal cruelty
* weapons
* Noah homicidal

Viewers who are not particularly politically-minded when pursuing film entertainment are more forgiving toward insertion of leftist ecology messages and lack of Biblical fidelity.

It is fantastic mythology. Perfect for storytelling. A perfect natural for all kind of things.

Sergio Bustamante has a place in Canada Verde at Puerto Vallarta. Google Images do not show in any way what the place really looks like. It is more akin to an Escher drawing of stairs going through cubical  buildings.  Don't mention this to anyone, but SERGIO BUSTAMANTE DOES NOT LIKE GRINGOS. And although based out of Guadalajara has some three very nice shops in Puerto Vallarta so his art is obvious and spread all over the city.

I am amazed. Amazed I am telling you, when I hear someone say they don't notice.  You cannot not notice Sergio Bustamante's art even if only there a short while and not really looking. Because it jumps out from display windows and smacks you. His favorite subjects are people and beings from myth and Noah is right up his alley. It is a perfect subject.

These photos are from a repair done to a Bustamante paper mâché.  jefferymeyerart restoration

Above is a particularly beautiful Noah, I think. I admired this one in the shop. It blew my mind. The thought of it needing repair is a bummer. The Bustamante Noah I stood in awe of was quite large. The largest thing in the shop.

Below is an earlier Noah. There are other versions. 

And of course pop-up books galore. It is the perfect subject for pop-uppery. You don't even have to think about that one, just do it.

Noah pop-up book, Tim Dowley

The Ark, a pop-up Matthew Reinhart. I have this one. I show it to people, they love it. Leave with people then pick it up later. They tell me they pass it around.

You can have it for 1₵  + shipping.


Noah (bible pop-up)   1 ₵


Noah's ark full of animals: a pop-up playbook    1.10 used

Homemade pop-up book