Over a couple of drizzly days in Edinburgh, I saw 10 shows across the cultural smorgasbord that includes a major arts festival, a book festival, and a sprawling fringe.

Chris Donoghue co-presents Newstalk Breakfast from 7am to 10am. He is an ambassador for First Fortnight, a charity aimed at challenging mental health stigma, and will speak at Proclamation, a music and talk event on New Year’s Day in Christ Church Cathedral, as part of First Fortnight festival in association with NYF Dublin. NYF Dublin’s three-day citywide festival spans the new year period from today until January 1. See www.NYFDublin.com 

Looking for something to do this week? Here are five suggestions.

Find out what’s going on in the worlds of arts, film and culture before you start your weekend.

Shia LaBeouf blames his erratic behaviour on method acting.

Actor Shia LaBeouf has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct stemming from an incident at a Broadway show.

Even in death, Joan Rivers got what she wanted: A star-studded funeral, with the worlds of Hollywood, fashion, media, and money represented among the mourners.

The worlds of Hollywood, fashion, media and money have united among the mourners at a funeral for Joan Rivers, meaning she got the star-studded send-off she wanted.

Emma Stone is in talks to make her Broadway debut.

GIVEN the weather we’ve been enduring here lately, you have to envy the Australian lifestyle. They can plan open air events with confidence, and if you were thinking of celebrating the first months of 2014 down under, then Sydney is the place to head for, where on Feb 1 you can enjoy Opera in the Domain free.

Richard Curtis — the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love, Actually — is best known for his offbeat romantic comedies, but About Time (12A), which he also directs, is probably his quirkiest yet.

A man who got into the Olympic Stadium without a ticket then threw a beer bottle at competitors lining up for the men’s 100m final has been found guilty of public disorder.

X Factor hopeful Melanie Masson tonight became the second contestant to leave the show after the judges’ vote went to deadlock again.

Maggie Gyllenhaal looks glorious in a Zero + Maria Cornejo spring 2012 navy jumpsuit.

Long-running crime drama 'Taggart' has been axed by ITV after almost 28 years.

The world’s largest arts festival got under way today with its busiest line-up to date.

The Spice Girls are set to make a follow up to ‘Spice World’.

A group of 12 gifted young people experienced their first taste of the Big Brother house tonight, under the direction of celebrity hijacker Matt Lucas.

Bad sequels and remakes tortured movie audiences last year, and they provided a smorgasbord for the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that recognises the very worst in Hollywood.

Scottish actor Alan Cumming wed his partner, illustrator Grant Shaffer, in a civil ceremony in London yesterday.

Suppose the Germans had won the Battle of Britain and invaded England … only to be defeated by the Scots?

Screen legend Sean Connery will debut in his first animated feature in a film called Billie the Vet.

Fashion designer Stella McCartney has vowed to keep up her fight against fur on the catwalk.

TOM CRUISE and Katie Holmes are in line for Hollywood’s least wanted accolade — the Razzies.

Girls just want to have fun – on Broadway.

Sean Connery has been turned into a cartoon character.

Hollywood star Catherine Zeta Jones' planned musical movie about her native Wales has been delayed because of the struggling US dollar.

Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Welsh movie project has been delayed and could be in trouble, it emerged today.

Scottish actor Alan Cumming was stunned when he once attended the Grammy Awards with Faye Dunaway - because the actress removed the contents of a sandwich to weigh it before she ate it.

Scottish star Alan Cumming is to launch his own fragrance, but is not entirely sure which way it swings.

Catherine Zeta-Jones may be seeing a bit more of the folks back home in Wales next spring as she is busy lining up a film set in the world of rugby.

The new film adventure of author Patricia Highsmith's murdering anti-hero Tom Ripley bears little relation to the book on which it is based, according to sources on the set.

The original Charles Dickens classic of poverty, friendship, endeavour, romance and redemption in the cobbled streets of Victorian London ran to some 700 pages; which means that McGrath had to do a bit of pruning for this excellent screen adaptation.

The Scottish actor Alan Cumming, who is a big success as the mutant superhero Nightcrawler in X-2: X-Men United, could be following in Jim Carrey's footsteps by donning The Mask.

Not that we are overburdened with a plot, as Professor X (Stewart) returns with his odd-ball collection of do-gooding mutants.

The first shots in the Summer Blockbuster Wars are being fired with the return of the X mutants … and as far as X-Men 2 director Bryan Singer is concerned his collection of decidedly curious characters has no fear of the opposition.

Ian McKellen looked all white on the night at the world premiere of new film X-Men 2.

The Scottish actor-comedian Alan Cumming is talking with Catherine Zeta-Jones about starring in her first film as a producer, the rugby comedy Coming Out.

Brian Cox is the latest actor to join the cast of X-Men 2 as villain William Stry.