How To Turn A PaperClip Into A House
13
July
We constantly read about crazy ideas and schemes that despite common sense, somehow work. The internet has seen a proliferation of them, the Million Dollar Homepage probably rates as the most famous of the online lot. Well, a new challenger has stepped to succeed despite the odds!
Today, it was announced that Kyle MacDonald’s One Red PaperClip challenge was finally over. For those of you that haven’t been following, here’s the low down. Kyle started out with a single red paper clip. His aim was trade or barter that paperclip for other items, with the end aim of trading for a house. A year to the day, he travels to Kipling, Saskatchewan in Canada to take possession of his new house. (Where is Kipling you may well ask?… well it’s literally in the middle of nowhere). Along the way, Kyle traded for:
– a fish pen, a doorknob, a stove, a generator, an instant party, a famous skidoo, a trip to Yahk, a cube van, a recording contract, one year in Phoniex, an afternoon with Alice Cooper, a KISS snow dome, a role in the latest Corbin Bersen movie and finally, a house!
Along the way MacDonald appeared on Good Morning America as well as Japanese TV. According to The Age, his saga has become an “internet blockbuster”.
Why would a small rural town become involved in something like this? 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. Well, Kyle travelled on July 12th to Kipling to shake hands with mayor Pat Jackson and officially trade one movie role for that house, located at 503 Main Street. The town also pledged to put a giant red paper clip at a highway rest stop.
As for the movie role? The town has pledged to 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.” The competition is open to all comers… so if your in Canada on the Labour Day weekend… you never know your luck!
Read the article from The Age here.
1. Jade | July 13th, 2006 at 21:30
Ha! I can’t believe he finally got there..congrats to Kyle.
Another example of thinking the unthinkable and somehow pulling it off.
2. BillyGoatEric | July 13th, 2006 at 21:38
This was all over the South China Morning Post as well. I couldn’t believe he actually did it
3. The DayDreamer | August 1st, 2006 at 21:22
As an update to this post, Kyle MacDonald has signed a book publishing deal and sold the movie rights to DreamWorks. Writing in his blog, 26-year-old Kyle MacDonald, said the book would be published next (northern hemisphere) summer in four languages - English, Italian, Japanese and Dutch.
“I’m pretty excited about this,” MacDonald told the Canadian Press news agency. “I was sitting in front of the computer with a paper clip and that is all there was. Now, I am sitting down with some of the biggest producers in Hollywood and the largest publishers in the world.”
MacDonald said he was approached by about 40 book publishers and 50 production companies who were interested in his story before settling on Random House for the book and DreamWorks for the movie/TV rights.
Read an article about the book and movie from the Age, here.
4. One Man’s Trash… - beezhouse.com | October 3rd, 2007 at 09:17
[...] had the dude who traded a paper clip for a house, another guy who sold his speeding ticket on an online auction house for $NZ52. Faulty laptops, non [...]