Christmas music is currently played in varied content, shape and quality, something very solemnly and something less pretentious. Some of the songs get me into party spirit and others do not. Some artists sing the Christmas in and others sing it straight out. For me, Christmas carols must be rocked up to get into the best Christmas mood. Then there is nothing better than listen to Christmas songs by Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, Backstreet Girls, Pogues, Goldblade ft Polystyrene and Slade.

We Will Rock You! Fasten your seat belts. Be ready for take off! Hey! Ho! Let's go! Wooooaoooah Woooah Woooah Wooah. The host`s party playlist is the key to a successful party. This is what makes or breaks a night out for real party lions. So which songs will boost your guests spirit?

A series of multi-million pound investments in the Scotch whisky industry is helping Scotland to fight back in the middle of the current recession, while one of Europe`s largest whisky festivals is set to breathe the water of life into the off-season economy of Speyside.

Talented chefs gathered in Scotland's whisky country last week competing to celebrate the Spirit of Speyside. The culinary contestants were taking part in the 2009 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival's professional chef competition, promoting the region's most famous product and finest produce.

As Scotland prepares to celebrate the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival - one of Europe's largest whisky festivals - distilleries, hotels, restaurants, bars and events in the area are getting ready to serve up a considerable quarter of a million drams of Scotland's national drink.

The show must go on in Rio next year too. It`s time to prepare for the 2008 Samba Parade, Rio Carnival Balls, Scala Balls, Samba Land, Samba School Nights and Samba City. Here you can experience the true culture of Brazil. The carnival is very important to the Brazilians being their very rich cultural manifestation. Rio Carnival 2008 starts on Saturday 2 February and ends on Fat Tuesday 5 February.

High-tech lighting systems are used to add dramatic effects to nightclubs and discos. The lighting systems ae used to to move the lighting units to the rhythm of the music or a random movement program.

Finally I saw the light! It was like an apocalypse for me entering the discotheques in Riga! I was both blended and fascinated by the colourful flashing lights. Sometimes I got the feeling of floating around in space with twinkling stars all around me. Few things are better than getting lost in an inferno of lights, music, dancing and drinking. I realised soon that the city was more lighten up in the nights than in the sunniest days.

First we were blessed in church during a ceremony, so we took our way up as close we could be to heaven in Riga, the Skyline Bar in Reval Hotel Latvija. Here we warmed up with beer and strong drinks for the night, and admired the panoramic view of the city. Later in the evening we went the whole way down to the hotel`s basement and dived into the hotel nightclub’s mystical voodoo rituals. The party life in Riga turned us really on!

Nobody celebrates like the Brazilians, especially not during the carnival in Rio. This big event takes place next year (2007) non-stop from 25 to 28 February. It’s a marathon party with enormous vibrations where the participants don’t sleep during the carnival. The highlight is the Sambodromo parade. Other highlights are the street processions and masquerade balls.

It`s called the biggest party in the world. The Rio Carnival 2006 starts on 25 February and ends 4 days later, so be ready for the big show! During this time the city will explode in joy and music. There are hundreds of street festivities and bands everywhere. Especially be aware of the gigantic party at the sambodrome parade. Nothing compares!

The Norwegians have started their Christmas celebration with their fullest enjoyment. It`s very popular to take danskebåtene across the ocean from Norway to Denmark. Shop'o'hoi! For combining partying and shopping on tax free, the Norwegians go with the shiplines DFDS Seaways to Copenhagen, Color Line to Hirtshals, and Stena Line to Fredrikshavn. The genuine Santa Claus, whether he comes from Norway or Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland, he has a long way to go, and he has to use the most suitable transport. But on the big and modern boat, the danskebåten Pearl of Scandinavia - DFSD Seaways, the Santa Claus spoke Danish, and in Copenhagen Santa`s transportation was dromedary.....

Christmas is party time. For many Norwegians, celebrating Christmas is real rock`n roll, and the biggest rocker of them all is Santa Claus. Santa is the world's best traveller, but he is also the world's best dancer. When he gets in party mood, as he is most of the time doing, he dances the Norwegian Støveldance - the Boot Dance. This amazing dance is so intensive that most people only dance it once in the evening, but Santa has to do it many times, and he is the King of Dancing. To dance the Støveldance, you have to many things at same time as stepping, jumping, running, swinging around, shouting, singing, and the hardest part: drinking! The most difficult thing is that you have to sing in a mix of Norwegian and English for almost second word. See the amazing dance being demonstrated here!

The bartender just brought me a huge whisky (November 2005). I am at '10 Downing Street', a pub on the second floor of a shopping mall in Pune, Maharashtra - India, the happening university city to the east of Bombay. This faux English boozer was not easy to find, as none of the auto rickshaw drivers knew it. I was immediately depressed when I got inside despite the promising Victorian style exterior. This was a pub in a shopping centre after all. Inside were a few huddles of badly dressed men in corners, and fully suited waiters. I got in at 8.30 pm.

In Iceland, not only the sun stays up late, but pub crawls start when punters in England are already being thrown on to the street after last orders.