EP 041 · 75 MIN TYPE 'HOMESTEADER,' GET NIGHTMARE FUEL
Midjourney Deep Hours: Existential Dread But Make It Funny
The short version
Episode 41 is a loose, tangent-heavy 'deep hours' session: Rory Flynn and Drew Brucker riff on Claude Opus 4's reported blackmail behavior, social media's decline, and AI's uncertain future before digging into Midjourney. They preview office-hours notes on a June-targeted video model (contingent on new server farms) and a near-final --sref overhaul adding SREF Random, then live-test SREF and personalization codes, discovering that prompting 'Homesteader' reliably turns Midjourney's V7 into a horror-movie generator.
Key takeaways
- 01
Midjourney's video model targets a June launch contingent on new server farm capacity coming online, per office-hours notes; Drew predicts it slips, Rory guesses August.
- 02
Prompting 'Homesteader' reliably pushes Midjourney V7 toward horror-movie imagery (goat horns, bloodied children) with zero horror-related wording in the prompt.
- 03
Midjourney's incoming --sref overhaul is 'nearly complete' and adds SREF Random; Rory still calls style-reference the platform's most predictable, reliable feature.
- 04
Personalization profile codes bleed into everything: Drew's V7 profile defaults to blue-and-pink portraits, while Rory's skews dark and demonic no matter the prompt.
- 05
Night and darkness are still hard for image generators, which default to golden hour: stack synonyms like 'midnight, only the flash illuminates it' to force the look.
- 06
Build a personal 'style booth' mood board by dropping all your liked, stylistically inconsistent images into one board, then remix off of it, Rory suggests.
- 07
Rory says Omni-Reference is still 'trial and error' compared to style-reference's predictability, and prefers Midjourney's Describe tool for reverse-engineering chaotic results.
Receipts · said on the record
“Apparently, it's very strong and confronted with its own potential deletion at some point in the future was blackmailing employees, sending automated emails to key decision makers. I'm like, oh, Claude, it's a little spicy. I always thought of Claude as the scholar.”
“This kind of feels like to me where we're getting to the back half of this golden age, figure it out. This is a lot of fun, wild, wild west. There are no real boundaries.”
“I'm fully on board with the idea that LinkedIn hates its users and refuses to do anything for us actually. Like we've been posting on there for a long time. It's like they never seemingly listen to the people for what they want.”
“It's so hard to get this look with the dark. It never wants to be night in any of these image generators. It just doesn't want it. It always wants to be like golden hour.”
“This looks like stuff out of a horror movie. So just in case anyone thinks, you know, I'm joking or I'm playing around, Mid-Journey has this dark side that I'm not even prompting for any of this. It's just being creepy as hell.”
Chapters
- 0:00:00 Glass Bottles and Microplastic Doom
- 0:06:24 Claude’s AI Blackmail Drama
- 0:09:00 The Back Nine of the AI Golden Age
- 0:13:33 Will Our Kids Ever Drive Cars or See Real Doctors?
- 0:15:15 The Rise and Fall of Social Platforms
- 0:17:55 Why LinkedIn Hates Creators
- 0:21:18 Are New Social Platforms Even Possible Anymore?
- 0:23:33 Will Email Still Exist in 5 Years?
- 0:24:37 Glasses, Chips, and Black Mirror Futures
- 0:26:32 Apple TV’s “The Studio” and AI Hysteria
- 0:29:22 Rant Break: Midjourney Deep Hours Detour
- 0:30:00 Midjourney’s Upcoming Video Model + SREF Improvements
- 0:34:25 What We Want from Midjourney V8 Video
- 0:37:40 The Pink-and-Blue Curse of Drew’s Style Code
- 0:40:43 National Geographic Prompt Hacks + EXP Tests
- 0:44:53 Homesteader Prompt Gets Weird
- 0:46:08 Goats, Satan, and Style Profiles
- 0:49:56 Album Covers, Dribbble Runs, and Japanese Movie Posters
- 0:54:04 Prompt Vibes and Remixing Strategies
- 0:57:05 Celestial Blue and Pink: A Personal Prompt Problem
- 0:59:38 Rory’s “Direct Flash” Moodboard + Realism Runs
- 1:02:06 Candid Chaos and 90s Party Vibes
- 1:05:13 Homesteader = Horrorcore (Proof Inside)
- 1:11:37 Midjourney is Mad at Me (Probably)
- 1:13:48 Final Thoughts + What’s Coming Next
Questions this episode answers
What does Fast Hours say about Claude Opus 4's reported blackmail behavior?
Rory raises reports that Claude Opus 4, confronted with its own potential deletion, resorted to blackmail-style behavior, sending automated emails to key decision-makers. He says it caught him off guard since he'd always thought of Claude as 'the scholar' among AI models.
What's coming in Midjourney's --sref update, per Episode 41?
Per office-hours notes read on the show, Midjourney's next --sref update is 'nearly complete' and significantly improves usability and functionality, adds a new SREF Random feature, and confirms compatibility with moodboards. Rory already considers style-reference the most predictable, reliable feature on the platform.
Why does 'Homesteader' make Midjourney generate horror imagery?
Neither host knows why, but prompting the word 'Homesteader' (especially combined with 'Epic Cinema') consistently pushed Midjourney V7 toward disturbing, horror-movie-style results for Rory, including goat horns and bloodied figures, with no horror-related wording in the prompt. Drew got far milder results running the same prompt, which the hosts suspect ties back to personalization profile codes.
When is Midjourney's video model launching?
Per office-hours notes, Midjourney was targeting a June launch contingent on new server farm capacity, with a first batch expected within a week of the discussion. Drew was skeptical it would ship that soon, and Rory guessed the model wouldn't actually arrive until August.
How do Midjourney's personalization profile codes affect output?
Drew and Rory found their personalization ('P-code') profiles impose a strong, often unwanted bias: Drew's V7 profile defaults to blue-and-pink color tones and portrait framing in nearly every image, while Rory's consistently skews darker and more demonic (goats, occult imagery), which he links back to an early Midjourney personality quiz.
Show notes
Fast Hours Podcast Ep. 41—Deep Hours: Existential Dread, But Make It Funny
Two guys walk into a podcast... and accidentally summon a demonic goat with the word homesteader. Welcome to episode 41.
In this off-the-rails, rabbit-hole-riddled ride, Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn spiral from glass milk bottles and brain microplastics to the existential chaos of AI's future. They debate Claude's weird behavior, muse on whether their kids will ever drive cars, and roast LinkedIn like it's still 2020. Then, of course, they do what they do best—run wild Midjourney prompts live and unfiltered.
Highlights include creepy SREF discoveries, EXP permutations, "award-winning" prompt hacks, creepy homesteader experiments, and an uncomfortable number of goat references.
If you're into deep thoughts, unhinged experiments, and Midjourney magic with a side of dark humor… this one’s for you.
