Thamara Kandabada. Generalist. Tinkerer.
Stream
Everything Else
Life
Astro
The Great Astro Migration of 2026
IndieWeb
HWC
WordPress
Blogging
Writing
HTML
CSS
Streamlet
Films
QFT
Belfast
Running
Exercise
Couch to 5K
Gigs
Birthdays
Celebrations
Design
JavaScript
Web Design
Travel
Music
Scotland
Glasgow
Museums
Reading
Books
Habits
Letterboxd
Diary
Film Reviews
Cinema
Northern Ireland
Streaming
PHP
Website
AI
LLMs
Typography
Nature
Walking
Outdoors
North Coast
Digital Garden
Film
Authoritarianism
Brazilian Cinema
Podcasts
Listening
Boredom
Vibe-coding
Web Apps
Data Visualisation
Open Source
Personal Finance
Wordle
Documenting
Digital Footprint
Podcasting
Archiving
Posterity
Self Reflection
Personal Website
Live Music
Physical Media
Jeff Buckley
Documentary
Lego
Recreation
Hobbies
Star Wars
Bob Dylan
Biopics
Word Games
4K Blu-rays
Blu-rays
Audio
Apple Music
Apple
Hi-fi
Recommendations
Playlists
Deezer
Media
Art
David Bowie
Poster
Audio Quality
Audio Gear
Reviews
Netflix
TV Shows
2026
2025
2024
2022
2021
22 Jul 2026
Filed under Stream
Today at HWC Europe I shared my screen and showed everyone some snippets of this website. I particularly focused on my style page, the gigs layout and the posters layout. Even though the website is staged on a public URL and the source code is available on a public GitHub repo, I don't imagine anybody would have stumbled upon this as of yet. My website is quite basic compared to the cool things people do on the IndieWeb, but it felt good to share something I've made from scratch with limited technical knowledge.
21 Jul 2026
Filed under Everything Else
My last post on WordPress
It's time for a new chapter
19 Jul 2026
I asked my wife this morning to have a look at my Astro site and to give me some feedback. She said it was easy enough to navigate and that she liked the light mode colours. She didn't understand the purpose of the /Style page, but concurred she wouldn't be in the audience of people who would find that sort of thing interesting.
17 Jul 2026
No-JS mobile navigation menu
Adventures in janky CSS
16 Jul 2026
I've always wanted to add a section to the blog for short status-type posts. I didn't get around to experimenting with this on WordPress, but I have now built this in Astro. I'm calling this section of the blog "Stream", and each of these short posts a "Streamlet". I now need to find a way to make it as easy as possible to post these regularly.
13 Jul 2026
Gehenu Lamai
A gem of Sri Lankan cinema comes to Belfast
11 Jul 2026
Filed under Life
Couch to 5K: Week 9
That's it, I'm a runner now!
26 Jun 2026
Waiting for Def Leppard
Another pre-gig dispatch
25 Jun 2026
Couch to 5K: Week 8
I'm almost there
21 Jun 2026
Birthday
It’s like any other day
14 Jun 2026
Couch to 5K: Week 7
25-minute running interval: conquered!
9 Jun 2026
Styling the new website
A work in progress
8 Jun 2026
New writing setup
Hello markdown
7 Jun 2026
Couch to 5K: Week 6
Can I call myself a runner now?
2 Jun 2026
A weekend in Scotland
Among nature, music, and art
31 May 2026
Waiting for Big Thief
Aka, you can write anywhere
28 May 2026
Couch to 5K: Week 5
Making steady progress
27 May 2026
Spring/summer reading list
Picking up an old habit again
25 May 2026
Letterboxd tag hierarchy
How I organise my film diary
23 May 2026
The first 100 films of 2026
A film diary update
18 May 2026
Couch to 5K: Week 4
Getting used to longer running intervals
16 May 2026
Location and weather in /now
15 May 2026
Hello SSG
14 May 2026
Typeface makeover
A serif with personality
11 May 2026
The Gobbins Cliff Walk
A dramatic coastal walk with killer views
8 May 2026
A decent start
2 May 2026
“Gardening” update: May 2026
Finding joy in web design
23 Apr 2026
Catharsis through film
Some thoughts on two recent Brazilian cinema outings
19 Apr 2026
A forgotten art
13 Apr 2026
A data visualiser for Finances 2
My second vibe-coding project
1 Apr 2026
Validation
This silly Wordle “hack” I came up with has gone places
23 Mar 2026
More archiving: Gigs
Keeping a diary of performances I’ve witnessed
21 Mar 2026
Leaving a digital footprint
20 Mar 2026
Duodecennium
Looking back at 12 years on the internet
12 Mar 2026
David Byrne at the O2 Apollo
A long weekend well spent
4 Mar 2026
Building a physical media showcase with Lovable
How I vibe-coded a simple catalogue app
16 Feb 2026
Some thoughts swirling around in my head after watching the new documentary
12 Feb 2026
New Year, New Website
A “quick” update that took a while
9 Feb 2026
Armoured Transport
Ready to be deployed at an ice planet nearby
7 Feb 2026
Memory
A note on my favourite film genre
26 Jan 2025
A Complete Unknown (2025)
An incomplete review
31 Dec 2024
Don’t Look Back (1967)
A short review
13 Jan 2022
A Wordle hack
Want to maximise your chances of getting the Wordle right? Try this.
5 Aug 2021
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
4K UHD Blu-ray impressions
2 Aug 2021
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
17 May 2021
Apple Music Hifi
A few observations on Apple’s big announcement today
2 May 2021
Monthly Music Update: April 2021
My top streamed songs from the past month — in playlist format
1 May 2021
Deezer Discoveries: April 2021
Fairport Convention, The Libertines, and Grace Slick & The Great Society
26 Apr 2021
Active vs Passive Listening
A tip for enhancing your listening experience
25 Apr 2021
All The Madmen
A tribute to David Bowie’s underrated ode to insanity
3 Apr 2021
Monthly Music Update: March 2021
25 Mar 2021
Apple Music vs Spotify
A head-to-head comparison in audio quality
22 Mar 2021
Moving In
Introducing: the microblog
20 Mar 2021
Little Dot MKII
My impressions after two weeks of use
14 Mar 2021
What’s good on Netflix - March 2021
I’ve been enjoying these shows and movies on Netflix lately