Wednesday Odds & Ends: 9, Sam Raimi, Mad illustrators and one really huge telescope

+ There's a new extended clip of "9" out now and it looks like this:



+ Wow, how did I not know there's going to be a World of Warcraft movie? (Did you like how I started that sentence with WoW? Verbal homage!) Apparently, Sam Raimi is now slated to direct this World of Warcraft movie which makes me happy because A) I like Sam Raimi and B) I like Bruce Campbell and you know he's going to want to strap on some armor for this one, right? (via @game_aholic on Twitter)

+ AfterElton is doing Facebook-style recaps of "Torchwood: Children of Earth." Speaking of which, how awesome has "Torchwood" been so far this week? Why couldn't the show have been this awesome from the beginning?

+ Beautiful weather, gorgeous beaches, sightings of bare-chested Sawyer....As if the world needed another reason to visit Hawaii, it was announced earlier this week that the world's largest telescope will be built there. The telescope's mirror will be 100 feet in diameter and will allow scientists to see 13 billion light years away. Sadly, the scientists will now have to listen to years of "just got lei-ed" jokes from everyone who visits them.

+ Sci-Fi Wire has a review of a new book called "The Art of Harvey Kurtzman," which chronicles the work of the cartoonist and long-time Mad Magazine illustrator. It looks to be a wonderful collection. And I've always had a soft spot for Mad Magazine, the staff of which was kind enough to give me a tour of their offices and let me grab handfulls of back issues out of their storage closet when I was eight years old. I love them for it still.

+ USA Today has an article up that's half about "Iron Man 2" and half about Comic-Con. Don't ask me why but it has this picture of an intense Robert Downey Jr. in a motorcycle racing suit so who am I to quibble?


+ Speaking of Comic-Con, The Park Bench is thrilled to have a correspondent on the ground and in the mix there this year. Park Bench reader Robin has volunteered to send in reports and give us the latest wherever and whenever possible. The plan is to have some Twitter updates as well as some daily wrap-ups. Fingers crossed the Wi-Fi works! And a huge thank you in advance to Robin!