Ask Carroll

[Nick Carroll]

Nick.....do u think I can b better than mike ive come too belly boarding late
( stfu wingnut )

Im pretty sure I havent peaked performance wise yet
And if I have
Shit that was a let down

Well I feel that if you practice every day and do your best, then one day your dreams of bodyboarding fame and glory will come true.

[Nick Carroll]

Excuse the gaucheness of the question Nick, but is your brother properly, actually famous in Australia? You know, like famous outside of the surf community?

Hmm I don't really know the extent of his fame. He was very famous in the 80s and 90s for sure, like one of the most recognisable sporting personalities in the nation. His fame has been on a slow simmer in recent years thanks to the StormSurfers thing. I would say among people of his generation, yeah, pretty famous.

[Nick Carroll]

Shearer has raised some interesting points, but the elephant in the room is the SUP riding.
You must have seen him dabbling with those things. Why did you not intervene?

The message I got from the 60 minutes piece was that it's ok to ride SUPs

Sadly there isn't much anyone can do about it.

Only he can help himself, and that won't happen until he admits he has a problem.

[alakaboo]

Well done on the interview, looked tough. Have to give some props to the crew, they are good at what they do even if I don't normally have any time for their content.

As a journalist, did you feel like you were more in control of the interview?
And were you aware of the body language and visual cues being used?

I still don't really understand why you felt compelled to write the book, but guess I'll have to read it to find out.

As Braithy said, reading the medical records must've been powerful. I've had a somewhat similar experience, but I think I'll keep my mask on.

[Nick Carroll]

Well done on the interview, looked tough. Have to give some props to the crew, they are good at what they do even if I don't normally have any time for their content.

As a journalist, did you feel like you were more in control of the interview?
And were you aware of the body language and visual cues being used?

Yeah the crew are v good, highly skilled.

No, I didn't feel particularly in control but you've got to give up that illusion of control when being interviewed under those circumstances. Like there were two camera angles being shot during the interview, and the shots selected in edit were all from the camera that was shooting a little from my side, so it appears that I'm a bit bigger and more dominant in the frame. This was clearly a device which in the context of the piece made me appear to be the big strong older brother, or something such. I didn't control those camera angles. I look a bit tense under questioning but there was plenty of relaxed time during the interview -- it just wasn't when the hard subject matter was in play. Stuff like that you've just got to let go. Tom is way more schooled than me in that area.

you asked why I felt compelled to write this book, well I don't know if that's the right word, but if you can't write about the stuff that's close to you then how can you write about anything else. Like a lot of writers spend their time prying into or otherwise appearing to observe other people's lives, but the whole time they're just sublimating their own personal experiences into other people's stories. That's probably why you'd turn to fiction instead of journalism - so you can invent the construct and bleed in your experience, instead of using other people's lives to do it (which can feel vaguely icky, see Janet Malcolm on the subject). I sort of hope I become a little freer now as a writer and able to take on new things with a clear mind, though of course maybe I won't.

[alakaboo]

you asked why I felt compelled to write this book, well I don't know if that's the right word, but if you can't write about the stuff that's close to you then how can you write about anything else.

I was just echoing your language on the interview with Stu

So I didn't want to write the book for a while. I had to really think about it. I started thinking if I cant write that book then what is this book supposed to be? Is it supposed to tell the absolute fucking truth about everything? Is that what I'm supposed to demand of Tom and myself and our family? At that point I went, fuck, I've kinda got to do it, I've got no choice.

Good answer, though.
Nice shirt, too.

[BA]

Shearer has raised some interesting points, but the elephant in the room is the SUP riding.
You must have seen him dabbling with those things. Why did you not intervene?

The message I got from the 60 minutes piece was that it's ok to ride SUPs

Sadly there isn't much anyone can do about it.

Only he can help himself, and that won't happen until he admits he has a problem.

There's a celebrity intervention show on Fox. Alcoholics, drug addicts, sex addicts and SUP riders. It fits right in. It's clearly an illness.

[Lucky Al]

nick, i have an idea for a tragedy/comedy road movie about four middle-aged australian men with families and jobs who live in hanoi and haven't surfed for years and one day get it into their heads that they really really need to go driving down the coast of vietnam looking for surf for a week. i'm drafting the script now. can my people talk to your people when it's done?

[Lucky Al]

actually one of them has never surfed but reckons he might as well give it a shot, after all the worst that can happen is get eaten by a shark.

[Lucky Al]

this script is humming along today! i'm supposed to be doing something else, but anyway. i've decided they'll spend a week driving and looking for surf but never finding any. the movie will just be full of frustration and boredom and bickering and conversations and arguments about family life, sex, work, music, movies and surfing. it will be a real-life surf movie, far out of this world. one of the guys will have unprotected sex with an old hooker in a provincial town and spend the rest of the trip worrying about syphilis. they'll play a game of golf somewhere along the way, even though one of them (my character) abhors the game and everyone who plays it. two of them, best old mates, will have a really lame fist-fight over something that happened at a party years ago. finally the swell will pick just as they're heading for the airport to go home. in the final scene one of them will look at his phone to see a text from his wife saying she's leaving him and when he tells the others they all think it's a joke and carry on boarding the plane, picking up their newspapers on the way in and smiling wearily at the average-looking hostess who smiles wearily right past them.

[Nick Carroll]

Frankly Al I think you're overplaying it a bit with the hooker. But otherwise, yeah. This could be the next Hangover.

[Lucky Al]

don't any of your mates have unprotected sex with old hookers in provincial towns when you go on surf road trips nick?

[Nick Carroll]

Well Al truth is I have often wondered what my mates get up to. Many of them lead busy lives which cause them to travel almost constantly, often flying in expensive airline seats and staying at very good hotels in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Delhi and the like. Their explanations of these trips are often quite vague and it all seems just a little too goddam convenient. I feel it is quite likely that they frequently have sex with hookers, but the hookers would probably be young and exceedingly attractive and make a point of not contracting or passing on venereal diseases. I picture them meeting these girls in dimly lit well appointed bars in the lobbies of these excellent hotels, a bit like George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in that move "Out Of Sight" -- very urbane and slick and full of sharp repartee.

[andy2476]

nick do you think surfinsmurf is tomtom and if so why haven"t you blocked him ?

[Nick Carroll]

nick do you think surfinsmurf is tomtom and if so why haven"t you blocked him ?

Yes I do! And I have.

That pic of the men with the cock socks was such a giveaway.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[moondoggie]

I firstly want to note my admiration for your support of your brother.

He seems to be a symptom of a generation where it was 'de rigeur" to get into it, or more to the point get out of it. Some just went harder . some had the sense to just go home. Most became victims of their popularity as it opened doors that are better left closed.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/hard-to-f ... 2what.html

What do you tell your kids "Dont do what I did" ??

Are you Carroll boys now going to be promoters of a drug free lifestyle??

Phill Jarrett, influenced a generation - has a lot to answer for Kharma wise ??

[tonka79]

No. Leave it....we should do a r.s- o.s trip together
Im keen on tahti nxt year....I know where we can stay cheap
And ill write about the adventure. ...and my story will b heaps if not loads better than unlucky als
Nick
Whats your general advice regarding female personal hygiene
Should they shave down there or not

RS surf trip!