He made me laugh.
If I've learned nothing else in the past couple years, and I'm fairly sure I've learned next to shit, then I at least learned the following: Jim Carruthers was one of the funniest motherfuckers a fella could hope to encounter on the web-net or anywhere else. Even when he was being serious, he still had a way with an obscure reference that couldn't help but crack me up. Sometimes he maybe appeared snarky, or bitter, or xenophobic even, but I think the worst I ever saw in his comments and articles here and there, maybe on Blogcritics or Resonation, was a mischievous desire for to rile things up as best he could. Jim liked nothing better than to get up a nose or six.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - bhw
Didn't he do that after someone suggested that BC posts include a photo along with our byline? I can't remember if he created his own post for it or if he just put a link in the comments.
27 - Temple Stark
You could put together quite a bio from just looking around the Web.
Here's one mini-bio Jim Carruthers
Jim was a Senior Content Strategist in the Branding Practice at marchFIRST Toronto, Jim not only ensured that communications messages are meaningful to the user, he also rigorously tests interactive media for positive user experience. Prior to joining marchFIRST, Jim ran an internet consulting company, BrainGarage, and worked at PolyGram Records for several years in the national marketing department.
Jim has a BA in History from Concordia University, and is an inveterate Apple computer guru both at the office and in his spare time. You can reach Jim at jimc1@braingarage.on.ca. His Web site is braingarage.ca and can also be found at resonation.ca
Also at Jimspot.net from Aug. 2002 is a list of, if not the original members at Blogcritics. pretty close to it. Here. Tim Hall was one of them.
And there's a little more on the genesis of Blogcritics here, one of Eric's old sites.
28 - Steve S
Jim
29 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thank you. man, that just seems perfectly right. how could he look like anything else.
my dream was pretty close.
30 - MCH
Thanx Duke, for the tribute to Jim Carruthers.
I, too, will miss his sardonic wit. I think what I respected most about Carruthers was his grasp of military action. As a veteran, he didn't base his comments from listening to talk radio, or from what he'd seen on TV or read somewhere - he had actually "been there"...he lived it.
I appreciated Jim's spot-on detection of the hypocrisy of words without action, and his understanding of sacrifice over rhetoric.
RIP, Jim Carruthers.
31 - RJ
I won't lie. I never did like Jim all that much. (Of course, all I knew of him was from his posts and comments here.) And his anti-American rants drove me crazy.
But he was definitely a talented writer, and damn funny at times, too. He will be missed.
RIP Jimmy C.
PS - Was Jim the infamous "Mike Hunt" from BlogCritics PBW?
32 - Eric Olsen
he was everyone on PBW
33 - HW Saxton
No wonder he got so pissy when I stated
that I found & still find Porn boring.
Makes more sense now.
34 - Eric Olsen
he was very fond of porn if he can be taken as his word about it - I would guess the impersonal aspect was appealing
35 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
what's blogcritics pbw?
36 - Eric Olsen
Plain Brown Wrapper, our short-lived attempt at an adult-oriented offshoot site
37 - Temple Stark
Paper Bag Wanking something or other.
It wasn't that, but similar. It was a back of the video store type section of BC. And I never got the Mike Hunt joke until just now. Usually I'm much better at cathcing on. Usually.
38 - RJ
No, wait, he was Chubby Pecker. I was Mike Hunt!
How the memories fade...
39 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
for some reason this is hittin rather sore around the gut tonight. i think the photo was the crux of it. this is as dark a night as theres been in a while.
who knows why?
40 - Steve S
because you are a liberal, Duke. You empathize with other people.
Like his life, his final moments were on his terms. He wouldn't have wanted it any other way, not Jim.
41 - Temple Stark
I think Mike Hunt got you going Duke.
I'd be feeling like shit now, too if say, you popped off. But you enjoy your outlets and seem like the type who, when he drinks, keels over before he can get alcohol poisoning.
And you've probably tried to beet those odds many times.
Write. Talk. E-mail. Break your guitar strings and let your fingers bleed. But then tell us about it tomorrow.
Cheers. Temple
42 - bhw
"I was Mike Hunt!"
Now, that's a funny sentence!
43 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
steve and temple, thank you. words can make for a swell band-aid now an again.
heh, actually listenin to the next mondo podcast thin worked immensely. i overlooked my own own anti-depressant abilities. more specifically young ben kweller's anti depressent abilities.
lets just hope Jim's sorted wherever he went.
your right steve. he wouldn't have wanted anyone or anythin havin a say in his death, far as i can tell from his waxin.
44 - ClubhouseCancer
Carruthers was an original and very funny. I too knew him only from here, and came to really appreciate his sharp, thought-out stuff.
Sucks.
45 - ClubhouseCancer
Duke, your tribute is really, really fine and deeply felt. Thanks.
46 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Thanks CHC. An i just noticed someone added the link to Jim's posts to the bottom of the article. go check them out, folks, if you haven't ever done so. And thanks to whomever is responsible for adding the link.
47 - Al Barger
Has anyone links for pictures of JC, or something like an obit from the local paper?
48 - Eric Berlin
See Comment #28 for a pic, Al.
49 - Eric Olsen
I added in the pic, Duke, and no need to have an Amazon link on something like this.
Al, nothing in the paper yet - it's a rather grim and open-ended set of circumstances and family is very sketchy. He had distanced himself for some time.
50 - Eric Olsen
not sure I buy the whole "on his own terms" notion, I don't want to glorify the decision, which brings us back to the HST discussion, and I fear the catalyst for this course of events, though I am purely guessing and have no particular inside info
51 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
eric, i dunno that i buy it either. but it makes things a tad more acceptable. just.
and thanks for adding in the pic. i wasn't sure what to do with the link thing.
52 - Steve S
not being part of the HST discussion, but being from a community where suicide is common, perhaps gives me a different perspective. Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say. It was said to make Duke feel better last night, and it seems it did. And to give Jim the benefit of the doubt. A comment like that, I perceive as not glorifying the act but glorifying the man, giving him the assumption that it was on his terms. Of course I know no more than anybody else here.
53 - Eric Olsen
Duker, Your sensitivity is a big part of what makes you you, and why you are such an outstanding writer; but I think this is one of those circumstances where we can learn by painful example paths to NOT follow.
54 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Steve S, it did, and i think i got where you were comin from man. no need to worry.
EO, thank you. and yeah, i imagine this is most certainly one of those situations. one of those messages folks carry without knowing it.
55 - Tom Johnson
Jesus . . . I don't know how I missed this until today. I just caught a glimpse of the "Jim Carruthers, RIP" in the left hand column a moment ago. I can't say much that hasn't already been stated. As others have said, I tended to clash with him more often than agree, but that doesn't change the fact that his death comes as a complete and total shock, and I'm really sorry to hear of it. His presence on Blogcritics will most definitely be missed - he sure did keep things churning!
Damn.
56 - Natalie Davis
Well, there goes one benefit of moving to Canada.
RIP Jim Carruthers...
57 - Al Barger
How old was Jim?
58 - Eric Olsen
"40s" is all I can gather
59 - Mark Edward Manning
I can't say I'm sorry that he's gone. Not from life, but from the Blogosphere. I wouldn't wish death on anyone, other than Saddam Hussein. Speaking of Saddam, I suspect Jim is planning to party with him once he is finally executed by the now-free (or at least partly free) folks of Iraq. (Certainly a lot freer now, despite the terrorist insurgency, than they were under Saddam. But I digress ...)
I had contempt for him for hating Americans so much, and as for all the accolodes about him having sharp wit? How does not listening at all to any argument he got back in return to educate him about his outrageous prejudices equate to sharp wit? He had not reason, only arguments. He was a bigoted loudmouth, an emotionally crippled man with a huge chip on his shoulder. One highly suspects that he once got a good butt-kicking from some Americans, hence his hatred for the country to the south of him.
I'm sorry that he might be dead, but will not hesitate to admit that that I'm glad he's taken his leave of the web world.
60 - Eric Olsen
"ogres are like onions"
61 - Mark Saleski
he had not reason, only arguments
right.
'reason', the modern conservative's codeword for "agrees with me".
sadly, jim knew more about america and its place in history than more americans.
plus, jim didn't hate americans, he hated 'muricans...and he pointed out the difference many, many times. there was just too much froth and spittle going on for most 'patriots' to notice.
62 - Mark Edward Manning
Mark S.: "plus, jim didn't hate americans ..."
No, Saleski, of course he didn't. He obviously had great respect for those Americans who wished they were Canadians, or wanted to become Canucks.
Those who maintained a love and faith in their country, no matter how "wrong," were 'Muricans.
Does that distinction make an impression on me? Can you say, "HELL, NO!"
63 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
seeing as how he's not here to defend himself, maybe we should assume we don't really know either way...
64 - Al Barger
Jebus Criminy there Manning- cut the dead guy a bit of slack. He was obviously lonely and frustrated, so maybe you could take his ranting with just a little grain of salt. Jim didn't hate Americans anymore than Ralph Kramden hated Alice when he was threatening to send her to the moon.
I don't know that Carruthers had a lot of great insights into politics, but he was fairly witty, and he was a pretty nice guy. I miss sparring with him.
65 - Eric Berlin
Oh, they have LAY-ers....
66 - Natalie Davis
Mr. Manning, you are in my prayers.
67 - Mark Saleski
Those who maintained a love and faith in their country, no matter how "wrong," were 'Muricans.
that's your typical reductionist 'logic'.
feel's safe, doesn't it?
besides, nobody gives a flying (pick your favorite witty noun here) if something makes an impression on you.
68 - andy marsh
Jim was the Canadian that first called me an ugly american on here. Got me started in this addiction. He made me laugh. Half the time I wasn't even sure if he was serious!
69 - Dave Nalle
So now we can all call Andy an Ugly American in Jim's honor and it's ok.
Dave
70 - HW Saxton
Talk about compassionate. Mr.Mark Edward
Manning gives an HONEST statement so you
jump all over his case because he does
not share your opinion of Jim.Very Nice.
71 - Bennett
Hey HW,
If there's ever a time to take to heart the wisdom "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it."
It's at A FUCKING WAKE!
72 - HW Saxton
Bennett,For starters I'd be mighty hard
pressed to call this a "wake".Secondly,
seeing as how this is an open forum,I'd
have to say that anybody should be able
to say what they feel and speak their
minds w/o worrying about being on the
ass end of snide remarks and personal
affronts. You have your opinions of the
man and someone else has theirs. FWIW,I
personally don't have any horse in this
race. I just don't like to see people
get bashed for speaking up honestly and
not following the popular opinion of the
moment.I never have,I never will.
Call me callous for this but,if a person
was an asshole to me while alive they're
still an asshole to me after they pass.
I will let any resentment I had towards
that person go(as it's unhealthy to hold
grudges)but I won't be changing whatever
my opinion of them was because they have
died,moved on down the road or whatever.
That's just me, obviously you feel a bit
differently. Que Sera,Sera...
73 - Al Barger
HW, it's alright if you or Manning want to come to this little memorial post and dump on our late colleague. Hey, you're just being honest. But then likewise, if someone else comes back and says that they think that YOU are a big jerk, well hey- they're just being honest too.
I could understand wanting to use such an occassion to take exception to the evil of some really bad person. Poor Jim, however, was just a lonesome lost soul who liked to argue, mostly with conservatives.
Why you even want to come be crappy about Jim? If you didn't like him, just be glad he's gone out of your hair and pick another post to read and comment on.
74 - Steve S
Al, this might be the one time I find I agree with you on something. Let's mark the calendars.
75 - Mose
Hey all...
I must thank you for all of your comments. Yes, ALL comments. Jim I knew in real life. I knew him well. We had a whack in common, partied together, worked together and matter of fact met online in the 80's on a BBS. We both loved the online world and we both loved the idea of free speech.
Jim was who he was. Full stop. On and off line. Not some pencil-necked geek who lived in Mom's basement. He served his country on a submarine, played pretty damn fine guitar, drank like a sailor - fuck, hold on he was a sailor! LOL!!! He worked like ten men and in all the time we were friends never complained about hard work. A truer guy you never met.
Above, I mentioned All the comments ...
Jim would fight to the fucking death to protect freedom of speech and he and I have battled forever to fight censorship on every forum we were on. And Jesus did he love a great argument. I loved him for that. We argued a whack. Never saw eye-to-eye on a lot of things but that never diminished my love for him.
So ... Say what you will. Nice or not. Jim would not only encourage it - he would demand it. One small word of caution from a geezer like myself however is that until you get a true understanding of a person don't be too quick to judge. Opinions - cool. But judge? I think not.
Carry on ... and thanks again for the memories