Dominic Monaghan Lost star Dominic Monaghan has taken a break from acting to get behind the camera. An exhibition of his photographs titled “Happy Accidents” opens this Friday in West Hollywood, featuring pictures of his co-stars from Lost and Lord of the Rings. Dominic, 31, was recently in Australia filming scenes as Barnell Bohusk in the new Wolverine movie. Dominic Monaghan’s ‘Happy Accidents’

The Bodleian Library of OxfordRinger Forum Member Diedye points us to this intriguing news today from the UK:

A rare collection of books and artefacts will be open to the public for the first time after a £5million donation was made to the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

Original manuscripts from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein will be among a number of national treasures put on display in a new exhibition hall.

The donation by Julian Blackwell, president of the Blackwell’s academic bookshop chain, is the largest yet made to a university library in the UK.

Add that to your tour plans when visiting Oxford! [Read the Full Story] [Bodleian Library Homepage]

The following YouTube video confirms that Guillermo Del Toro will be directing ‘The Hobbit’ films. UPDATE An inside source has sent us an update. [Click Here]

See below for the video – The important part starts around :40

UPDATE Please note, in this video, you will see the Director of ‘The Orphanage’, Juan Antonio Bayona is on the left – to his right is the star of the movie, Belen Rueda – and Guillermo Del Toro is standing next to her.

Female Translator: Today it is our pleasure to announce something that everyone was hoping for, Guillermo will direct ‘The Hobbit’

(Clapping)

Female Translator: And he will give a small role to (the Spanish translator)

The “Hobbits” are homeless. Again. In 1978, Mike Canavan painted a mural based on the “An Unexpected Party” scene from the first chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” The painting was large 40 feet long and 11 feet high and made up of 11 panels. Mike painted the mural as a billboard when he worked a part-time college job for Richards Of Course, the outdoor advertiser. Those were the days when billboards all were hand-painted. The Hobbits need a new place to party

Starting November 2, the Field Museum in Chicago is hosting an exhibit that will include some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s maps and writing. Specifically, included will be Thror’s Map from The Hobbit, Topographical View of Minas Tirith from The Return of the King, and Notes on Times and Distances by J.R.R. Tolkien (all of the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, Marquette University).

From clay tablets to sea charts, from satellite navigation systems to sketches of worlds real and imagined—maps are much more than wayfinding. Travel through landscapes of time and space, science and imagination, in a rare exhibition of more than 100 of the world’s greatest maps. Explore high-tech interactive displays, and see original works by Ptolemy, Leonardo da Vinci, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many others. You’ll learn how early maps were made, see how the technology changed over centuries, and discover the latest advances in digital map-making. [More]