This Is A Pop Life

by Captain Briton – April 7, 2001

Who is Captain Briton?

He is me. I am Charles Roig, a recent creative writing and religion graduate from the illustrious University of Miami. I have long term goals of being a novelist, probably supporting myself by teaching, and hopefully able to occasionally dabble in comic books and graphic novels.

I am what you might call a pop culture omnivore. I eat the stuff up and remember it way too long and let it occupy much too much of my brain and life. Within my brain lurk various trivial trivia and minute minutia about those entertainments of pop culture which entertain me. I love rock n roll,


	The Smashing Pumpkins

I love comic books, I love Japanese animation. Movies and T.V. are good, too, but they aren't what I'm passionate about. I like fast foods and video games and all sorts of other things which I know are bad for me.

I imagine I'm like alot of you. It's hard to live in this American 21st century and not be some kind of a pop culutre omnivore. And while I love alot of pop culutre, I hate corporation. I hate watching a movie and just feeling the Hollywoodness of it. I hate most of the crap that is spewed and marketed to us, all the unnecessary junk that we think we need. I hate how much of it sucks. All that stuff that is so empy and shallow, very little joy or genuine creativity or adventure. And what I hate alot more than anything is how we keep buying it, keep perpetuating it, willingly.

My only loves aren't pop culutre, by any means. I love literature. I love reading. I wish more people would. I enjoy a good play or night at the opera. I like traveling and stargazing and cloudwatching and sleeping and napping and all sorts of things I'm sure you love too.

Why Captain Briton?

No real central reason. I just like most things British, I guess. Glorious Britain, land of great literature, great rock n roll, and bad food. Or so I've heard they have a reputation for. I don' t really know, I've only been to London what amounts to two days. I thought their fish and chips were pretty great, if you ask me.


	Excalibur

I have heard they like to eat things like eel pie, so maybe their reputation is well deserved, but I ask those among you who may be cringing, have you ever eaten an eel pie? Well, I haven't, so I'm going to hold out judgement until I do, thank you very much.

Anyway, I got the name from a comic character I greatly love and enjoy, Captain Britain. He's not one of my favorites, by any means, but I guess if you consider just how many comic book characters there are in existence, I guess he would fall in the upper quarter of my esteem. No, but the team he used to be a part of, Excalibur, certainly was and remains one of my all time favorite super teams and comic books. And it's Briton and not Britain just for the hell of it, okay?

So now that the dreary David Copperfield kind of crap is done with, sort of, let me get back to this column. Or more precisely, what this column is going to be about in the future.

I haven't really a clue.


	The Vision of Escaflowne

My plan right now is to just write about anything that comes to mind, and for right now that's most likely going to be reviews and spotlights on the various and sundry things that move my soul, entertain me. They'll most likely be things that have not quite garnered the recognition they so richly deserve, but I won't by any means limit myself just to those entertainments that have fallen by the wayside. I'll undoubtedly also write essays or other little missives about anything else that might be moving me at any particular moment. I'll also occasionally post some of my writing here, or maybe just other weird stuff I have floating about in my room, as I did in my previous test column.

And that's about it for now. This is my first time writing a column, so I'm going to figure it out along the way. Hope you will come along for the ride.

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-	Captain Briton is protector of Earth 515. He hopes you don't find him too preachy.

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