Operation Pink Paperclip
Welcome to the game….
Operation Pink Paperclip. I am trying to trade one black phone for a yellow house. I’ve made one trade already….my little black phone has left for a vacation in Hawaii, and I have in its place a $30 gift certificate for books at fuknbooks.com .
Who wants to join me on this journey?
One Black Phone = $30 Fuknbooks Funknbucks.
http://fuknus.chrisdamitio.com/
http://fuknbooks.chrisdamitio.com/
Who wants to take part in trade #3?
What the hell is this all about? I’m trying to sell all of my crappy Nixon collection but no one is buying.
HEY, TRICKY DICK! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD, DUDE?!
How much is your stuff worth? Wanna trade?
Not me.
Why not think of something original?
Red paper clip blogger throws party in new home
Updated Sun. Sep. 3 2006 11:28 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Residents of Kipling, Sask. threw a house-warming party on Sunday for Kyle MacDonald, the blogger who managed to trade a red paper clip for one of the town’s homes over the course of a year.
It was a celebration of a remarkable story, and literally had a Hollywood ending: the award of a movie role to 19-year-old town resident Nolan Hubard.
“This has been my dream since I was like 10-years-old,” said Hubard. “I can’t stop shaking. I’m going to pass out.”
And in a final surprise, MacDonald became reunited with the red paper clip that started it all. He fashioned it into a ring, and in front of a cheering crowd proposed to his long-time girlfriend.
The event was attended by both locals and others who travelled from all over Canada to party with the 26-year-old former Montreal resident.
“There are literally hundreds of people around. It’s a good party,” MacDonald said in an interview with CTV’s Lindsey Hoemsen, outside his new home on Main Street.
“It’s not one of those things you can ever really predict happening and it’s not going to happen on a continuous basis. It’s a one shot deal, everyone realizes that and we’re taking the right approach.”
MacDonald’s quest began July 12, 2005 when he decided to play an on-line version of a swap game he played as a kid.
He put a red paper clip up for trade on his website One Red Paperclip. His first trade was for a fish-shaped pen, which he then swapped for:
a doorknob;
a Coleman stove;
a power generator;
a keg of beer;
a snowmobile;
a trip to Yahk, B.C.;
a cube van;
a recording contract;
a year’s free lodging in a Phoenix bungalow;
an afternoon with rock icon Alice Cooper;
a KISS snow globe.
That’s when MacDonald caught the attention of actor Corbin Bernsen, known mostly for his role in the 80s television series “L.A. Law.”
Bernsen offered MacDonald a role in his new movie, “Donna On Demand” in exchange for the snow globe (Bernsen apparently being a collector with an impressive snow globe collection).
By this time, the trading had caught the attention of the town of Kipling. Figuring it would be good for economic development, Kipling town council bought a vacant house on Main Street.
The council offered the home to MacDonald, and he accepted.
Twelve of the 14 traders came together on Sunday.
“It will be a first for all of us to finally get to meet each other and see what strange reasons we all came together,” said Mark Hermann, who traded the snow globe.
Bernsen himself visited the town (population 1,140) last month to start auditions for his film, “Donna on Demand.”
After the three-day party wraps up Sunday night, the next chapter begins for Kyle as he begins to pen a book about the entire experience.
The book, however, is due at his publisher by mid October.
“So I kind of have to be a bit of a hermit and make that happen,” said MacDonald.
“But it’s good news, and I think people enjoy it, and that’s pretty much the entire project right there.”
With reports from CTV’s Lindsey Hoemsen and Tim Cook with The Canadian Press in Kipling, Sask.
Got a suggestion?
My little black phone served me well through years of making calls for other people, while living in a house that was not my own. Now I am living in yet ANOTHER house that is not my own…. and still doing for others. It’s time I use what I have to make a life for myself, after a lifetime of living for others.
I did not start with a paperclip. I started with my phone. There is a double entendre to Operation Pink Paperclip. First, it obviously refers to the Red Paperclip guy, and it also is a nod to an episode of The X Files….”Operation Paperclip”.
I’m just working with what I have…which is not much…and which is what I’ve been doing all my life.
Rather than being critical….maybe you could offer support, or show interest in making a trade!
Spend a little more time on your own life, and on HELPING others, and a little less being so negative.