You think that salacious Calvin Klein billboard is distracting... how about this new, menacing digital billboard at the corner of Canal and Hudson? NYC the Blog has video of it in action, and declares it to be a "potential mental health hazard" for those living near by (let's not forget what that glowing Kenny Rogers Roasters sign did to Kramer). Then there's the whole problem of temporarily blinding those operating motor vehicles in a pedestrian-heavy city.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced yesterday that 15 people were arrested on charges including grand larceny in connection with an identity-theft ring. Prosecutors say that the crime ring stole more than $700,000 in an overly elaborate and complicated scheme, involving (but not limited to): An old-timey band of pick-pockets, futuristic identity theft, and of course, costumes.

            

Click on the film stills for details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include 2012, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Messenger, Oh my God?, Pirate Radio, Ten9Eight, Uncertainty, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Women in Trouble, The Red Shoes, Goonies, and All Tomorrow's Parties.

   

A sad story appears to be coming to an even sadder end: Oreo, the pit bull mix who survived being thrown off the roof of a 6-story Brooklyn building, is being euthanized today. According to the NY Times, "Oreo was almost impossible to control once her injuries healed, [ASPCA President Ed Sayres] said. Other officials from the society said Oreo had shown extreme aggressiveness during several behavioral examinations: growling, lunging and trying to bite people who came too close." [Update below: Oreo was euthanized this afternoon.]

The following post is from our advertiser, Focus Features. Pirate Radio is the newest ensemble comedy from filmmaker Richard Curtis (screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, and writer/director of Love Actually). This high-spirited film tells the story of 8 DJs whose love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s a group of rogue DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic, played rock records and broke the law all for the love of music. The songs they played united and defined an entire generation and drove the British government crazy. The band of rebels is lead by The Count, played by Academy Award Winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. Pirate Radio also stars Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, and Tom Sturridge, and features an unbelievable selection of music including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Cream, and The Beach Boys, just to name a few. Pirate Radio in theatres now!

Teenagers: they ruin everything, especially when armed. Lots of people around Brooklyn loved the 40-cent Tuesday wing deal at Buffalo Wild Wings sports bar in Fort Greene—even Brooklyn Cyclones players were known to wing it there on Tuesdays. But now the restaurant has discontinued the promotion because of multiple shootings and a stabbing involving adolescents who descended upon the establishment Tuesday night. Thanks a lot, minors!

                            

Yesterday, with a bit (a lot) of inspiration from Andrew Sullivan, we asked that you send us your views. Submissions came in from Kensington to Washington Heights... and we'd love to see more. What do you see when you look out the window? Send a photo and location.

A doctor based in Greenwich, Connecticut lost his New York medical license after admitting to using the wrong sperm to impregnate a woman who subsequently gave birth to twins. But Ben Ramaley is still permitted to practice gynecology and obstetrics in Connecticut, though perhaps not for much longer. After agreeing to pay a $10,000 fine to the couple and refrain from performing artificial inseminations, the case was sealed. But now Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal caught wind of it, and he's considering prosecuting Dr. Ramaley.

It's amazing that anyone wants to celebrate the G train, but the NY Post is reporting that Williamsburg's City Reliquary is hosting a pageant to do just that. They report that the museum and civic organization will hold the pageant on November 19th in conjunction a photography exhibit documenting past Miss Subways winners.

For well over two years now, Bronx gym teacher and coach Dan Smith has been sidelined in one of the Department of Education's infamous "rubber rooms," thanks to an allegation of sexual misconduct in March 2007. But while other teachers (over 600 hundred of them!) use their rubber room time to play Sudoku and nap, Smith has been hatching a plan to get out.

Today's weather is courtesy of a classic air battle. To the north is a high pressure system centered over New Brunswick. Off Cape Hatteras is a low pressure system that used to be hurricane Ida. In between is the Atlantic Coast from Maryland to Massachussetts where the fringes of ex-Ida are bashing into the calm Canadian. The pressure gradient between the two means the Jersey Shore is taking a pounding. Sustained, gale force, onshore winds are responsible for coastal flood warnings in New Jersey and coastal flood advisories for much of Long Island Sound and city's Atlantic beaches.

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The two state workers busted for turning a parking garage storage area into a makeshift drug-fueled rec room pleaded guilty yesterday. Gary Pivoda, 40, a former custodian for the state’s Office of General Service, and his supervisor, Louis Marciano, 50, both admitted to defrauding the government, and Pivoda also pleaded guilty to grand larceny. He'll do a year in prison for dealing drugs out of the so-called man cave, while Marciano got five years’ probation and has to perform 250 hours of community service. Both men must pay thousands of dollars restitution to the state for the time spent sleeping, playing board games, watching TV, and doing drugs while on the clock.

Today's mid-day links: A detective was found not guilty of tipping off drug informants, Americans shoplifted a lot last year, Trader Joe's is headed to Chelsea and more.