Craigslist

What happens when thousands of politics wonks descend on one poor, defenseless mile-high city for a few days? Why, lots of Craigslist posts offering or soliciting politically minded sex, of course.

Take this 39-year-old man, who is offering a "free spa quality sensual massage for Obama supporters!" He adds: "Would love to meet and greet and touch a good energy soul in for the convention. Tall and fun with a great touch."

Or the 32-year-old man staying at the Aurora Hotel who was looking for a "cowgirl": "Are you a lady voting Obama? Are you looking for a little fun tonight during the convention? Perhaps you like to cum over and "Watch" with me? I'm serious about meeting up with a good-looking lady for the afternoon/evening and if you're serious about meeting up with a good-looking guy; what are you waiting for? Get back to me!"

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It's like 1919 for baseball, or 1929 for the economy. This year is an all-timer for newspapers, so it requires context, revision, and debate. Justin Peters at Columbia Journalism Review is asking a question: is 2008 really the worst year ever for newspapers? (As we argued earlier this week.)

He's got some other candidates. Like!

1963: The production staffers for New York’s daily newspapers waged a 114-day strike, which shut down all of the city’s dailies, cost nearly $200 million and put the New York Mirror out of business. "There was inconvenience for the readers and the merchants lost money—but there was nothing like fear; and that was because citizens, by radio if by no other means, could still discern the broad outline of what was going on," wrote Carl Lindstrom in 1964’s The Fading American Newspaper.

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This Williamsburg rental listing on Craigslist would make even the bed-bug, hipster-infested hovel McKibben Lofts feel luxe.

For $550 a month, you can live in a 10x6 room that is "not an apartment," on North 7th and Bedford Avenue in the heart of Brooklyn hipsterdom, just a half-block from the L train.

"Location is what sells here," says the listing.

There certainly isn't much else to buy in this glorified closet. It has no kitchen, no windows, no roomates are allowed, and there is "no wall to separate the bathroom and room."

Though the listing boasts a "private bathroom," let's dispense with the euphemisms. It's a toilet, a mattress, and a mini-fridge. Home sweet home.

Are you searching for a room and a life experience in the city this summer? If so, then this $700-per-month room in the "awesome Harlem Queer house" that we found on Craigslist might be just your thing.

"Do you like Dolly Parton and have a special place in you heart for kitsch?", the ad reads. "Do you want to live in a place this summer full of communal meals and time with roommates? Are you just awesome? Then welcome to the Harlem homo house."

Craigslist, that decadent den of sleazy companionship and sleazier free furniture, is an endless well of great real estate information. So imagine our surprise when a posting called "$1475 SEX AND THE CITY SPECIAL... CARRIE'S APT", turned out to not have much to do with the HBO show/Observer column.

After a promising picture of Sarah J. Parker and Willie "Stanford Blatch" Garson, and the half-English request to CALL NOW STEPHANIE, we are told that the apartment is stylish, has a deco fireplace, and is not on the sixth floor. So far so good.

Then comes this: the neighborhood is the quintessential NY neighborhood, just like you see on Sex and the City. Oh! So Carrie Bradshaw/S.J.P./Candace Bushnell didn't live there.

Alas! On the plus side, it's only $1,475 a month.