It's just a few minutes past nine in the evening, and I'm out with some friends, listening to the noise of the surrounding streets, filled with expectation and more than a little nervous. We hear a blend of songs playing on dozens of loudspeakers nearby, a Brazilian song over here, the lastest pop hit over there, and voices, lots of voices. We are on a street in central Sitges, a small town just a few kilometers south of Barcelona, in Spain, and it's the middle of winter.

We can sense the 50 floats lined up along the narrow streets of Sitges, and, standing around them, the people parading in this year's Sitges Carnival rubbing their hands to keep warm. It's the first parade of the Carnival, la Rua de la Disbauxa, the Parade of Debauchery.

It's cold, and it feels even colder to us since our clothes, if they can be called that, consist solely of bright, tight, sequined shorts made from some kind of elastic, metallic fabric and sleeves and platform boots in the same material. Our chests are bare (except for the ladies, they get funky corsets!). And then there's the hat, perhaps the most outrageous, infamous piece of the whole outfit, very tall and very bright. We cheer each other on, "Wow, it's cold, but look at us, we look spectacular!"

Chilly evenings are a great time to squeeze into a dark, warm club and shake off the winter doldrums to some seriously invigorating music. February is a great month for music in Barcelona, with three great little festivals and several stellar concerts. Both In-somni Festival at the Sala Bikini and Emergencia! at the CCCB offer an exciting look at what's happening in independent music, both locally and abroad, whereas MicroMUTEK brings us an amalgamation of electronic music and digital art. As for concerts, my top picks for the month are The Sounds, CW Stoneking and Megafaun...

Noir fiction doesn't need leaden skies and rain-slicked streets. In fact, there's something about blue skies and sunshine that brings the darkest and most depraved elements to light. Noir and crime fiction masters from Raymond Chandler to James Ellroy know that a murder in glorious sunlight has a particularly unsettling way of getting under your skin. They used the hard blue skies and piercing glare of Los Angeles in ways that were anything but comforting.

Barcelona is also a city of light and shadow, of Mediterranean splendour and Gothic twilight, picturesque facades and underworlds hidden from view. Barcelona even has it's own Philip Marlowe, a private eye by the name of Pepe Carvalho, who has a weakness for great cuisine and champagne cocktails. We've always been Carvalho fans and even have a walking route on our website, which takes you to some of his favourite haunts. The character, who populated countless books (and subsequent film adaptations), was created by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and gives the top prize at the BCNegra crime fiction festival its name.

The current exhibition at the CCCB manages to draw a connection between the Sistine Chapel and YouTube. No easy feat, unless you take a moment to contemplate the Sistine Chapel as a gigantic screen. This, after all, is the connective tissue of Pantalla Global (or Global Screen), a look at the power of the screen and its role as one of the main “constituent elements of ultramodern societies”.

The screen has evolved greatly since the first flickering images were projected on a blank canvas more than a century ago. The screen left the cinema and moved into our living rooms and then made the jump to ubiquity. During this expansion, it also radically altered its functions, moving from a source of passive entertainment and artistic expression to a broad range of applications, from news and information to healthcare and surveillance. The screen also shed its passive nature, ushering in an era dominated by tactile and interactive variations.

Last summer, Barcelona was named the Mobile World Capital 2012-2018. Not only will the Catalan capital host the world's largest and most important mobile industry event – the GSMA Mobile World Congress – during this time, but it will also present a series of programmes and activities throughout the year benefitting the local community as well as the global industry.

Barcelona was selected as the Mobile World Capital for a number of reasons. The quality of its conference and exhibition facilities. The excellent transportation network. The city's commitment to extending the reach of mobile technology, and a very supportive public and private sector. Organisers also mentioned the wide range of top-notch hotels and quality tourist apartments in Barcelona as a motivating factor. And, of course, the mild winter weather, celebrated restaurants and rich, cultural heritage provided an additional incentive!

In 2011, the Congress celebrated its biggest and brightest edition to date, with more attendees than ever before and a strong, international presence representing 200 countries. 1400 companies showcased their products, and more than 10,000 app developers presented innovations in the industry's fastest growing sector.

2012 looks even more promising and given the industry's constantly changing and expanding panorama and the rate of innovation, it is definitely a must for anyone working in mobile technology or related sectors.

Every Cirque du Soleil show promises an exuberant feast for the eyes and jaw-dropping acrobatic feats, and their latest production, Corteo, is no exception.

The Canadian troupe takes us on yet another magical journey, a "theatrical procession of poetic characters and graceful acrobats". As we step into the giant tent beside the sea, Corteo catapults us into an enchanted world both earthly and sublime, where a clown imagines his own funeral in the company of angels, circus performers, and the memories of his past.