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>From paper-clip to house, in 14 trades
Last Updated Fri, 07 Jul 2006 22:38:45 EDT
CBC News

A 26-year-old Montreal man appears to have succeeded in his quest to
barter a single, red paper-clip all the way up to a house.

Kyle MacDonald makes friends with Alice Cooper. It took almost a year
and 14 trades, but Kyle MacDonald has been offered a two-storey
farmhouse in Kipling, Sask., for a paid role in a movie.

MacDonald began his quest last summer when he decided he wanted to live
in a house. He didn't have a job, so instead of posting a resumé, he
looked at a red paper-clip on his desk and decided to trade it on an
internet website.

He got a response almost immediately - from a pair of young women in
Vancouver who offered to trade him a pen that looks like a fish.

MacDonald then bartered the fish pen for a handmade doorknob from a
potter in Seattle.

In Massachusetts, MacDonald traded the doorknob for a camp stove. He
traded the stove to a U.S. marine sergeant in California for a 100-watt
generator.

In Queens, N.Y., he exchanged the generator for the "instant party kit"
- an empty keg and an illuminated Budweiser beer sign.

MacDonald then traded the keg and sign for a Bombardier snowmobile,
courtesy of a Montreal radio host.

He bartered all the way up to an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper,
a KISS snow globe and finally a paid role in a Corbin Bernsen movie
called Donna on Demand.

"Now, I'm sure the first question on your mind is, "Why would Corbin
Bernsen trade a role in a film for a snow globe? A KISS snow globe,"
MacDonald said on his website "one red paper-clip."

"Well, Corbin happens to be arguably one of the biggest snow globe
collectors on the planet."

Now, the town of Kipling, Sask., located about two hours east of Regina
with a population of 1,100, has offered MacDonald a farmhouse in
exchange for the role in the movie.

 The paper-clip house. (CBC) MacDonald and his girlfriend will fly to
the town next Wednesday.

"We are going to show them the house, give them the keys to the house
and give them the key to the town and just have some fun," said Pat
Jackson, mayor of Kipling.

The town is going to hold a competition for the movie role.

MacDonald said: "There's people all over the world that are saying that
they have paper-clips clipped to the top of their computer, or on their
desk or on their shirt, and it proves that anything is possible and I
think to a certain degree it's true."

MacDonald, who has attracted international media in his quest, said the
journey has turned out to be more exciting than the goal.

"This is not the end. This may be the end of this segment of the story,
but this story will go on. "

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/07/paperclip-house.html