Highlights from the Quark Matter 2012 conference: a theorist's perspective

<!--HTML-->The series of Quark Matter conferences is traditionally the most important venue for showing new results in the field of ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. This year's edition was held in August in Washington DC and it attracted almost 700 participants. It featured the newest results from experiments at the LHC and at RHIC, as well as a broad range of new theoretical developments. This talk will provide - from a theorist's perspective - a selective review of results presented at this conference.