"I have memories of going to films and being in awe of what I was seeing. And that's what drove me in wanting to be a filmmaker. And I feel like I'm seeing awe just disappearing, especially as these images can be made in an instant." Ari Aster talks to @maxwelltani and @semaforben about his views on AI:

"I feel like I shouldn't say. Should I?" @maxwelltani asks director Ari Aster about a rumor that he was asked to do a Marvel movie on Mixed Signals from Semafor Media:

"This is basically the movie that Twitter wrote..." Director Ari Aster tells @semaforben and @maxwelltani how scrolling social media influenced his new movie "Eddington."

Ari Aster's 'Eddington' is a modern Western placed in the height of lockdown during the 2020 pandemic, where digital media is the real villain. This week on Mixed Signals, @semaforben and @maxwelltani bring on the writer and director to talk about why he decided to make a film set during COVID when the rest of Hollywood is running in the other direction, how his relationship with social media led to 'Eddington,' and how his research for the film made him more empathetic to conspiracy theorists. Plus, Ari reveals what Marvel movie he turned down.

.@RealDoctorMike tells @maxwelltani and @semaforben that debating 20 anti-vaxxers in a Jubilee video showed him that "people can and will change their minds." " When I'm seeing patients day in and day out, they perhaps are more skeptical than they used to be, but they are still trusting their family medicine doctor," he says.

🟡 This week on Mixed Signals, @semaforben and @maxwelltani talk to YouTube’s favorite doctor @RealDoctorMike about the role of medical experts online, why he thinks legacy media has failed to communicate medical information, and why he’s not afraid to be overtly political by calling out RFK Jr and the Trump administration.

Trump used new media to shape the conversation, but Zohran "was able to do the reverse of that in this race" by focusing on an affordability crisis that New Yorkers were talking about, "even if polls weren't necessarily capturing it as the top issue," @katz_morris tells @semaforben.

The secret to the media strategy that shocked New York City’s mayoral primary? “Let Zohran cook.” “We have this extraordinary candidate with a clear vision on the kind of race he wants to run,” @katz_morris tells @maxwelltani. “But we gotta trust our guy.”

🟡 Zohran Mamdani broke out through vertical video on social media in ways that few political candidates have been able to pull off. This week on Mixed Signals, @semaforben and @maxwelltani talk to @RebeccaKKatz and @katz_morris to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how viral videos like “Halalflation” came about, why Mamdani’s videos worked, and what future political campaigns can learn from his success.

The US dollar is on track for its worst year in modern history — and may not be done falling yet. The greenback is down more than 7% this year and Morgan Stanley predicts it could fall another 10%.