About Me

Welcome! Benvenuto! Thanks for checking out my blog and possibly my portfolio too.

In case we don’t know each other, my name is Tommaso, but I also go by Tom (although I kind of want to start calling myself Tomm with two emms, just to be more ~unique~), I’m 23 at the time of writing, I’m from Rome, Italy, and I’m an aspiring writer/critic/geek aficionado. Below are a few questions you might have about me and about my blog -- but if you have one that isn’t here, you can always shoot me an email at tommpazzi@gmail.com.

(Eventually I’ll figure out if there’s like, an “ask me anything” functionality on this site – stay tuned!)

So like, what’s your story, man?

It’s fairly cliché, actually. I’m just a guy who was lucky enough to absorb a pretty huge amount of pop culture and media from a very young age. It all started with a fateful trip to Blockbusters when I was 4 (I think). My parents, irresponsible adults that they are, let me pick the movie for our Saturday movie night. They probably thought, “He’s going to pick something sweet and happy like Winnie the Pooh or something”. Instead, I immediately went for Tim Burton’s Batman. That’s the first movie I remember watching, ever. Jack Nicholson still terrorizes me to this day.

My parents encouraged me to watch as many movies and films as possible after that. My dad had a VHS collection of the “greatest movies of all times”, and I devoured it. We held weekly marathons, which included all the Star Wars movies (at the time) and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Meanwhile, I was building a collection of my own, made of taped episodes of Batman: The Animated series, and Spider-Man comic books. I even wrote to the Marvel editors one time and got a shout-out on their newsletter! It was pretty cool.

When I was 8 I was gifted my first gaming console, and with that, my interest in visual narrative media reached full completion. By the time I started high school, I knew I wanted to be a part of the behind-the-scene world of film (or television. Or videogames. Or comics), preferably as a writer.

So you got a degree in Film and TV?

Yep! A BFA in Television Writing with a minor in Game Design, to be precise, from the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City. My years in the Big Apple have been the best of my life so far. I miss the city and all my friends there very dearly.

Is that why your English is so good?

Why, thank you! I’m flattered. But not really – I came to the U.S. already having an almost-perfect knowledge of the language. My parents were very strict when it came to studying English and had me take private lessons for 12 years, until I left for college.

That’s how I got the grammar. But watching American movies and TV in original language is how I got the slang, dawg.

What do you identify as?

I identify as male, and also as a raging homosexual (and if you’re one of the few people who know me but didn’t know, surprise!). Incredibly enough, my sexual awakening was, once again, brought forth by a movie – at least according to my mother.

The way she tells it, it happened when I was 10. We’re watching Armageddon together one night, and it gets to the scene where the astronauts all have to draw straws to decide who’s gonna stay on the asteroid to blow it up. Ben Affleck draws the shortest one, and I start bawling. My mother asks me why I’m crying so much, to which I yell:

“BECAUSE HE’S TOO PRETTY TO DIE!”

Why is it important that we know you’re gay?

Because all media is, like any piece of art, fundamentally subjective, and I think a person’s identity often influences how they experience it. That means that sometimes, I might interpret a movie/show/book/comic/game in a way a straight person wouldn’t.

More importantly, we live in the Golden Age of diversity (and controversy), so we should be discussing representation and themes about gender, race, sexuality, religion etc. etc. now more than ever – especially when it comes to entertainment, which is quintessential in shaping people’s perception of things.

Don’t worry though, I will not get lost in long descriptions of gay sex, or panegyrics about the virtues of shlongs. That stuff goes in my private folder.

What’s it like growing up in Rome?

Everyone loves and plays soccer, which I absolutely detest. Our coffee is always hot, served in tiny cups at any hour of the day, and packs four times the punch of a Starbucks grande cold brew. And you’re always surrounded by churches and ancient ruins, which is admittedly pretty cool.

So what are you doing now?

Writing, mostly. Specifically scripts and this blog. I’m also trying to break into the film and TV industry here in Italy and I hope I’ll be able to eventually move back to the US.

Wish me luck!

OK, enough chit-chat. Why are you writing this blog and why should I care?

I’m writing this blog because I’ve got things I want to talk about constantly swimming in my head and I want to put them down on the (web) page. Not because I think my opinion is particularly enlightened, or because I think I know better than anyone, but because I hope you will resonate with what I’m saying, and maybe even go, “huh, hadn’t thought about that before.”

Oh, and also make you laugh a little. Especially because I won’t be writing think-pieces every time. Sometimes I’ll just post something dumb.

You know, for fun!

So you’re not trying to convince me to watch or not watch something?

Absolutely not!

Look, OK. I do believe that there are technical and intellectual standards that all media should try to match or surpass. If something is shot badly, written badly, acted badly, and worst of all sends a bad message... it’s probably objectively bad.

That’s not to say you’re not allowed like it, though. I think the 1960s Batman movie with Adam West is the cheapest, silliest Batman movie ever made (yeah, even worse than Batman v Superman. Come at me, bro). But I still find it hysterical and I love it very much.

In the end, I stand by what I said a couple questions ago: all media is experienced subjectively. So everything I say here will be my personal opinion, and should be treated as such, and not as absolute truths.

That said, if you do watch something because you’ve read about it here, then yeah, I’ll be happy I was able to influence that decision a bit. Sometimes I need to feel important too, guys.

Tell us your favorite things, we need to know if you’ve got good taste!

Weren’t you listening to what I just said? …Ugh, fine.

My favorite movie is Blade Runner.

My favorite superhero is Spider-Man, but Batman’s got better villains.

My favorite videogame genre is RPGs.

My favorite book is the Iliad (yeah, you heard me).

I think Return of the King is the best Lord of the Rings movie, and that The Last Jedi is better than all the three prequels combined.

My favorite food is Japanese. I’ve achieved infamy for finishing a sushi boat meant for four people by myself in about 15 minutes.

My favorite drink is margarita on the rocks.

My favorite race is Half-Elf, my favorite class is Bard, and my favorite alignment is Neutral Evil.

My celebrity crush has always been and will always be Chris Evans, but I’ll settle for David Tennant too.

Hey, I want to work with you. How do I reach you?

That’s awesome, thank you for your consideration! You can email me at tommpazzi@gmail.com.

Say something in Italian!

Grazie mille di aver letto tutta ‘sta roba, spero vi siate divertiti, e che vi abbia convinto a leggere il resto.

Bacioni!