Blogger asks, "Wanna trade a paper clip for a house?"

[RebelMan]

By Daniel Terdiman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: April 14, 2006, 12:48 PM PDT

Kyle MacDonald is on the verge of successfully completing a project that on its surface sounds nothing less than absurd: Trading--with the help of a blog--a single red paper clip for a house.

Since embarking on his house hunt last year, MacDonald has traded with people from across Canada and the United States and is now sitting on a year's free rent for an apartment in Phoenix.

He announced on his one red paperclip blog his intention to take the clip he'd used on his resume and trade it up, step-by-step, until he got a house. And his goal is getting tantalizingly close.

"This has turned into an obsession," said MacDonald. "So many people have heard that I'm trading up to a house that if I don't make it, I'll be a schmuck. I'll take a house anywhere in the world. That's kind of the adventure, trading up to a house and then moving there."

MacDonald, 26, currently lives in Montreal and has spent the last year doing odd jobs and traveling. But the project that began as a throwback to "bigger and better," a game he and his friends played as children, has now become his full-time occupation. And it's allowed him to spawn a Net cult following that's hoping he'll succeed. Popular blogs such as boingboing have been tracking his progress for months.

MacDonald's trades have gone as follows:

• Paper clip for a fish-shaped pen
• Fish-shaped pen for a clay doorknob with a funny face on it
• Clay doorknob for a camping stove
• Stove for a generator
• Generator for an "instant party"
• Instant party for a snowmobile
• Snowmobile for an all-expenses-paid trip to Yahk, British Columbia
• Yahk trip for a panel van
• Van for a recording contract
• Recording contract for the year of free rent in Phoenix

After each trade, MacDonald posts the item he currently has and waits for people to post offers--which anyone can see. He then decides, with the help of feedback from readers of his site, which offer to accept.

"I'm a guy in Montreal who has an Internet connection and one red paper clip," said MacDonald. "If 10 people hadn't volunteered to collaborate with me on this, then I would still have the red paper clip on my desk."

Indeed, as he's moved up the barter chain, MacDonald has encountered some mundane and even odd trade items, even as he's visited the far reaches of Canada and crisscrossed North America five times.

"I like to think I live off magic," said Jody Gnant, the singer from Phoenix who traded the year of free rent for the recording contract. "There is an amazing energy going on with this project right now. I'm thrilled that Kyle asked me to be a part of it."

Gnant said she owns a duplex in Phoenix that has an empty unit and that she will use the recording contract to lay down a "one red paperclip"-themed song.

She admits the value of the rental property far exceeds that of the recording contract, but she says such calculations are of no concern to her.

"I make strange decisions every day," Gnant said. "I live off magic, not necessarily off ones and zeroes."

And her red paper clip-themed song could certainly come in handy, given that MacDonald said he was approached by a number of producers interested in making a movie about his project.

To those who've participated in the trades, MacDonald is probably the key to the success of this crazy process.

"When I met with Kyle (I found that) he's just a young enthusiast, and I wanted to contribute to helping him," said Bruno Taillefer, who traded a van for the trip to Yahk, B.C. "It has everything to do with his personality, and his drive. Not anybody could do this. He's the type of guy I wanted to get involved with as soon as I met him. I really wanted to help him get his house."

Gnant said she feels the same way about MacDonald and the project.

"I think Kyle's an amazing writer, and that has everything to do with (it)," Gnant said. "He's a pioneer of taking a blog to the next level. There are probably other people trying to do the same thing, and we just don't know about them."

MacDonald is confident he's going to succeed, and hopes it can happen by the July 12 anniversary of the project's launch.

Asked what he thinks his chances are, he replied quickly, "100 percent. It's a fine line between being oblivious and being crafty enough to make this work."

His trading partners agree.

"I can't wait until Kyle gets his house, (and) I know he's going to get his house," said Gnant. "I don't think it's going to take him very many trades at all, and I'd love to think that's how the universe works."

The Blog: http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

Also he said on his blog that he is going to be on Good Morning America on April 16, 2006.

[Sk8er gurl]

omg.. that guy is clever. it sounds a bit like the million dollar homepage thing

[T-J]

Whoa... this sounds like a joke - impressive though

[Blackmask]

Some people have too much time on their hands. Although it looks like he might get a house out of it so it might be time well spent. Some of those deals have considerable good will attached to them.

[Frasier]

Originally Posted by Blackmask

Some people have too much time on their hands. Although it looks like he might get a house out of it so it might be time well spent. Some of those deals have considerable good will attached to them.

...like posting on a message board for instance

[RebelMan]

Blogger's quest ends with keys to house

Source: Yahoo News
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer
Mon Jul 10, 2:32 PM ET

Taking a paper clip and turning it into a house sounds like a cheesy magic trick or a phony instance of resourcefulness on the 1980s TV show "MacGyver."

Kyle MacDonald, however, has pulled it off.

One year ago, the 26-year-old blogger from Montreal set out to barter one red paper clip for something and that thing for something else, over and over again until he had a house.

On Wednesday the quest is ending as envisioned: MacDonald is due to become the proud owner of a three-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot home provided by the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan. MacDonald and his girlfriend, Dominique Dupuis, expect to move there in early September.

"This is such a cool community project. It feels right," MacDonald said. "And now that I think about it, I can't believe that another small town didn't think of it. It will literally put them on the map."

What's in it for the town? The answer requires a quick MacDonald recap, featuring a menagerie of friendly folks, radio talk show hosts and aging celebrities, all bound together by the Internet.

It began when MacDonald, an aspiring writer, doer of odd jobs and apartment dweller, advertised in the barter section of the Craigslist Web site that he wanted something bigger or better for one red paper clip. He traded it for a fish-shaped pen, and posted on Craigslist again and again.

Roaming Canada and the United States, he exchanged the pen for a ceramic knob, and in turn: a camping stove, a generator, a beer keg and Budweiser sign, a snowmobile, a trip to the Canadian Rockies, a supply truck and a recording contract. Next, in April, he got himself really close, obtaining a year's rent in Phoenix.

His adventure became an Internet blockbuster. He did Canadian and Japanese TV and "Good Morning America." He made dozens of local radio appearances — one of which, in Los Angeles, was heard by a man who ended up as a pivotal figure.

That man is Corbin Bernsen. You may remember him from his roles in "L.A. Law" and "Major League."

Hip to the publicity-generating machine that is Kyle MacDonald, Bernsen contacted him to say he was writing and directing a movie and would offer a paid speaking role as an item available for trade.

MacDonald was thrilled. But he feared the integrity of his journey would be compromised if he accepted the role without trading Bernsen something he really could use. Say what you want about "Major League 3," but Bernsen has done well enough that he doesn't need a free apartment in Phoenix.

So MacDonald kept Bernsen's offer off his blog, but plowed ahead with an eye to finding something Bernsen would legitimately want.

Seemingly disregarding good economic sense, MacDonald traded the year's rent for an afternoon with rocker Alice Cooper. (MacDonald's response: "Alice Cooper is a gold mine of awesomeness and fun.") Then in a move that really confused his blog readers, MacDonald bartered time with Cooper for a snow globe depicting the band Kiss.

Re-enter Corbin Bernsen.

You see, since the days when he'd get free stuff on promotional tours for "L.A. Law," Bernsen has amassed a collection of 6,500 snow globes. "One off, they look sort of goofy," Bernsen said. "Put them all together and they sort of look like pop art."

So MacDonald gave Bernsen the Kiss model and encouraged his blog readers to send the actor even more globes in exchange for autographed pictures.

All this delighted the elders in Kipling, a town of 1,140 believed to have been named in honor of author Rudyard Kipling.

Like many rural towns, Kipling is eager to stave off the perils of dwindling population by attracting new businesses, tourism and above all, attention. When the local development coordinator, Bert Roach, heard about MacDonald's odyssey, he suggested at the next council meeting that Kipling lure him.

Quickly the town purchased an unoccupied rental house on Main Street and offered it to MacDonald. Roach won't disclose the price because MacDonald says he doesn't want to know. But Roach says it was well under the going rate in Kipling, which is about $50,000 Canadian (US$45,000).

The town also pledged to put a giant red paper clip at a highway rest stop and hold an "American Idol"-style competition for the movie role. Participants will have to make a donation to the town's parks department and a charity.

When MacDonald agreed last week, "I was holding back tears, I was so bloody happy," Roach said. "It's going to be such a great project for our community."

Bernsen says that if the right person emerges in the talent show, he'd be willing to cast him or her as a lead. "Maybe a career is going to get started. Maybe it's going to be huge. Maybe that's the magic of Kyle."

MacDonald doesn't expect to live in Kipling forever. But he says he'll make it home at least while he settles down to write a book.

Of course, even if the house came free, he'll have the usual homeowner headaches: taxes, utilities, upkeep. It should come as no surprise that MacDonald isn't worried.

"I'll figure something out," he said. "I can get a job. There's three grocery stores in town."

[BlackWolf]

Yeah, I heard this, good for him I say.

[solo1]

I have a paper clip too! Guys!

Guys?

[SilverSpoon]

Don't pay attention to him, I have two paper clips.

[farsighted]

I fail to see how a van = a recording contract, but alright.

[Blackmask]

The value of something is in what they have available vs what they need. The snow globe is a much more valuable prize to someone who collects them because they can't just go into any shop and buy the whole world's collection. And there's good will attached to the idea.

[solo1]

To what extent do you think that this guy has been carefully hand-crafting a "media event" from day one?