FAFO Time!

I'm Beginning To Get Optimistic About This California Gubernatorial Race!

Becerra and Steyer are surging; Hilton and Bianco are not.  It's possible that instead of two Republicans in the general election race, it will be two Democrats:

A new Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics poll of the primary election for Governor of California finds former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra leading the field at 19%, followed by Steve Hilton and Tom Steyer at 17% respectively. Ten percent support Katie Porter, and 8% Matt Mahan. Twelve percent are undecided. 

“Xavier Becerra tops the crowded California primary for the first time in an Emerson poll, his support increased by nine points since mid-April, driven by now being the top choice among Democratic voters at 31%,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said. “Steve Hilton and Tom Steyer closely follow at 17% respectively, Hilton’s support stagnant, while Steyer’s support increased three points since April.”

"Eddington" (2025)

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Originally posted May 13, 2026. Updated: May 14, 2026


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This week, as part of my ongoing project to see recent movies filmed in Albuquerque, I watched "Eddington" (2025) on Amazon Prime. The film is written, produced, and directed by Ari Aster, stars Joaquin Phoenix and features Emma Stone. 

Aster also produced "Bugonia" (2025), starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons; a very clever movie about people caught up in ridiculous conspiracy theories. Of all the films I saw in 2025, "Bugonia" was my favorite. Aster went to college in Santa Fe and spent years in New Mexico. That local knowledge helps in a movie like this. 

Like "Bugonia," "Eddington" is also mired in conspiracy theories. I think Aster aspires to be the most-relevant director of our conspiracy-burdened times. 

Joaquin Phoenix is brilliant as Sheriff Joe Cross. He's able to swing from maudlin speeches to twitchy fury, and back again, in seconds. 

The movie is set in 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and during the George Floyd riots. The characterization of the time is exaggerated and harsh - absurd, really - and before long the movie 'jumps the shark' entirely, not just once, but a number of times. Still, the effect is really interesting and I recommend the movie. 

Albuquerque is used as a filming location for only two minor scenes, so this isn't really an Albuquerque movie. There are important scenes filmed in "Santa Fe County," which may not, in fact, be true - I still need to resolve these sites. 

Much of "Eddington" is filmed in Truth or Consequences (TorC), (the southern New Mexico town of 6,000 whose name was changed from Hot Springs to the radio game-show name in March, 1950). TorC really shines in this movie (indeed, current Google Earth imagery was taken during filming, so locations appear there as seen in the movie). 

A strange movie; perfect for our times!

 

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Notes on Individual Scenes

(First draft)

Walking on road, with two cylindrical tanks in distance - ?

Village tank with mural - Hilltop - 344 W. 2nd Ave., Truth or Consequences, NM (TorC)

Traffic stop - northern NM, somewhere among so-called "Santa Fe County" sites.

Dispatch

Eddington city limits sign - ?

Walking in TorC near Garcia's Bar, 205 S. Foch St., TorC

Garcia's Bar -  200 S. Foch St., TorC

Driving on street, about 890 N. Broadway St.

Supermarket, 630 N. Broadway Street, TorC

Sheriff's office, 308 N. Broadway Street, TorC

Joe and Ted meet at the intersection of Broadway and Jones Streets.

Ted Garcia's house - ?

Walking down street for TV ad - about 610, N. Broadway St., TorC

Paula's Restaurant exterior, 313 N. Broadway St., adjacent to Fire Water Lodge at 311.

Gathering spot, Radium St., adjacent to Louis Armijo Sports Complex, 2800 S. Broadway St., TorC

Sheriff's house

Sheriff's office

Brian's house 

House on hill, dinner

General view of street, vicinity of 520 N. Broadway St.

The Word - Conversations in Christ, 520 N. Broadway St.

Campaigning down street - S. Foch and Broadway Streets

Demonstration - McAdoo and Daniels

Sheriff's office

Making posters - McAdoo and Daniels

Brian's house

Sheriff's house

Big demonstration, vicinity of 520 N. Broadway St.

Paula's Restaurant

Shooting range - ?

Driving home and Sherriff's house

Ted Garcia's house

Wrong way on street in vicinity of 310 N. Broadway St., with right turn on Foch.

Bar shooting

Body in river - ?

Ted Garcia's house

Silhouette of Sandias - Welcome to Gloria, NM - 1 Paseo del Norte NW, Albuquerque, NM 

(35.188777, -106.782417)

Covid testing in vicinity of Double Eagle Airport, Albuquerque, NM, but exact location is uncertain.

Ted Garcia's house

Shed - girl's house

Eddington Town Hall, 301 S. Foch St.

Aircraft - probably stock footage

Video of wedding

Sheriff's house

Driving around Broadway and Jones again.

Interrogation and search

Curve in street - about 103 N. Broadway St.  Turn east on Roverside Dr.

By Ralph Edwards Park

Driving in hills. Sheriff's house

Bandstand cupola - Ralph Edwards Park

Town at night - Sheriff's office

Zozobra - White Supremacy - Austin Ave. and McElroy Ave.

Burning cross on Poplar St. near Matson Ave. (marks still visible on Google Eath)

Burning barrel - explosion - drone

Sheriff's house (address number is "25")

Heading to water tank

Memorial Board is across from Davis-Fleck Pharmacy, 500 N. Broadway, next to Bank of the Southwest

U.S. Post Office and Branch Bank visible as Joe descends hill

Geronimo Springs Museum, 211 Main Ave.  Joe runs down Jones, from Main

Gunther's Pistol Palace, 303 Jones St.

Shootout - At 341 Jones, Joe crosses over along the alley and Sims St., From Jones to Foch to Daniels, to about 541 Sims St., or so, behind Bank of the Southwest

Emergency room, SolidGoldMagicKarp Data Center

Santa Lupe Pueblo Community Center, Bathroom, and Shooting Range

Return to the School

In preparation for my trip to Albuquerque in February I started working less in my role as a substitute teaching assistant at the Montessori school.  I was slow to return to the work. Three months have passed, and recently I began working again. I missed out on most of the spring semester, so now it's a matter of refamiliarizing myself; relearning students names, and having them relearn mine. Fortunately, the students have been happy to see me again. 

The school is going through a spasm of reconstruction, so the ways of olde have been disrupted. For example, middle school students now hold class in the cafeteria and in an outdoors tent. Several portable classrooms have been removed, so classrooms may have been combined, new fences have been erected, and the old pathways altered. 

"Laser!" shouted the one student who insists on Star-Wars-fantasy play, to the near-exclusion of other forms, and thus the alienation of other playmates. "I thought I left you on the Plains of Nullibor," I muttered in response. The student, my nemesis, smiled back in a steely way. 

Two boys who seem like refugees from the Seventies, with their 70s bro-handshakes (which they have christened 'dabbing'), were overjoyed to see me. In their circle, handshakes with me, an actual refugee from the 70s, were apparently made mandatory, so several other boys who I didn't know but were part of the circle came over to do their due diligence and shake my hand in 70s style too. The leader of the circle loves dinosaurs, and his story is that even though their teacher is older than the hills, I am older still, and can actually recollect that special day when the asteroid arrived to wipe out the dinosaurs. 

One first-grade girl came over. She's missing most of her front teeth now, which I guess happens to some in the first grade. She wanted to talk about the old days (namely, 2025). "I used to see you at Club M when I was in kindergarten," she said. "I saw you after that," I replied, "in particular, I saw you in your first grade class." She was surprised; she didn't remember. "What was I doing?" she asked. "Language or math?" "Oh, I think you were doing language," I replied. "You were busy so you don't remember me being there." 

Last week, I substituted in the middle school class and helped monitor a test in the cafeteria. It was trying at times, since noisy kindergartners came to the cafeteria too, to get lunches and cause disruptions. As I watched the class, two boys exchanged glances. One boy tore off a small piece of paper, wrote a note on it, rolled the piece of paper into a small ball, and threw it on the floor at the other kid's feet. It's been nearly sixty years, but my middle school instincts, once honed to perfection at Taylor Middle School in Albuquerque's North Valley in the late 60s, were still intact. I knew that the note was to be found under the kid's right foot. Thus began a contest of wills, which the kid tried to survive by Playing Dumb. I've never seen any other kid Play Dumb quite this well. I jostled the kid's feet with my right foot. The kid helpfully moved his left foot in order to show that he had nothing to hide. 

Yesterday, I was in a Lower El class (grades 1-3). It was amusing listening to some of the petty interactions between tablemates. "Stop it! You're humming!" one girl complained. "I think better when I hum, which I'm doing quietly, and if it bothers you, you should go get some headphones to wear!" the humming girl replied.  It's frustrating to be in elementary school classes, sometimes.

Today, I was with a group of kindergartners. Students ate bananas at snack time.  I stated that I had a hard time eating an entire banana at one sitting, since they are so sweet.  A kid replied that with my big belly I should have a near-infinite capacity to eat bananas.

One of the kindergarten students started acting out, so the rest of the class was sent for an unusually-long time to the school garden, which was still accessible despite the school reconstruction. The kids became interested in a tall sunflower which bore sunflower seeds. Since I was the tallest I picked the seeds, one by one. Some students ate the seeds while others found places to plant them. There was a bit of a problem with sunflower-seed greed, with one girl in particular demanding more and more seeds. After awhile I became dimly-aware that the sunflower was probably a project by one of the other kindergarten classes. Maybe we should have asked.  But at least a good time was had by all. 

Just before class ended, an old problem returned. "Laser!" My nemesis had found me again. "I don't believe you are real," I replied, "but rather a clone." "Reality!" the student shouted, before I was beset by electrocution rays.  Welcome back!