My Magic - My Way
by Michael Matson

BRUISED

A few words on the Bruised effect (if you're not familiar with this effect, details and photos can be found here -- S.) created by Daniel Martin and marketed by
Creative Magic:

Upon the release of Bruised to the magic community, I was not interested in another method of revealing a selected card. I felt that I knew enough card tricks to last me a lifetime and it seemed unecessary to have another alternative to reveal a selected card... and I still feel this way. However, after playing a little with the effect, I realized its potential! Bruised is a unique and novel revelation of a selected card, in the same ingenious category of effects like Stigmata and Pyro Perception. I highly
recommend it!

However, I feel there is a big weakness in the presentation when performing the Bruised effect. Bruises do not form in a matter of seconds. Thus, to have a card selected, then to cause injury to yourself then reveal the bruise seems highly unrealistic and unbelievable. The bruise tatoos that come with the effect look too good and realistic to diminish the magic with the mysterious appearance of an instant bruise. Also, I do not believe in intentionally causing bodily harm. Isn't that a very off-putting masochistic approach to a wonderful idea? You will notice that in many of the effects and ideas that I describe below, the injury is caused accidentally or from an outside source such as a piece of fruit or a spectator.

One of the main problems with magicians these days appears to be that they are impatient. They do not get the full reaction their effects warrant because they rush through the performance or quickly rush to the revelation without giving the moment sufficient time to breathe - to register with the audience to be fully appreciated. I subscribe to the Malini idea of .. wait. Well known magician Max Malini would set-up an effect hours, days, or weeks prior to performing it. Therefore, the revelation of the bruise should not, nay, cannot occur within seconds of having the card selected.
This is why many magicians performing this effect may encounter the "cool tattoo" problem, wherein the bruised revelation is quickly revealed and spectators comment, "cool tattoo". Spectators know that bruises do not form that quickly. Let us not insult the intelligence of our audiences. Yet, with that in mind, the general public normally do not know the actual duration it takes for a bruise to form and you can exploit that to a degree.

One solution is to injure yourself prior to the effect, allowing the audience to witness this accidental injury, and through time misdirection, somehow, the injury you suffered previous to the effect reveals a card that is selected by your future spectator. Another idea is when performing the bruise effect for a group of individuals you will be spending the evening with, I would perform the first part - the main performance of it - the card force, early in the evening and seemingly fail at trying to find their card. Perhaps injuring myself in the process? Throughout the evening, the spectators will either forget about the effect or, more often the case,
boast that you couldn't find the card and brag about how they tricked the magician. All the while, suspense and expectation is building for the magician to rectify this error. Later, just before everyone gets ready to leave, reveal the revelation as a bruise from you hitting your arm. Send them home with a memorable experience to ponder. The only thing is that, throughout the evening after you've apparently failed at finding the card, you must maintain within their eye-sight (even if you don't know what card they picked, they will assume you later added something to your arm to
create the bruise after the fact that the card was picked.) Throughout the evening, keeping in sight, after you were supposedly hit, rub the arm subtlely at different points within the evening. Make your reaction to the bruise as genuine as there's... you're not supposed to know that you will create the card in your bruise - unless you give that impression from the onset of the effect. Make the reaction genuine to you... "What's that? What the hell? Hey... look at this." Keep it vague. I believe that far too many magicians spell out the unnecessary stuff. Obviously you have a bruise in the shape of the playing card. Let the spectators realize it themselves. You will get a bigger reaction if they notice it without you saying what it is... even better.. you will get a bigger reaction if they notice it before you apparently do.

On Visions, I wrote an article talking about "The Opportunists Approach". I am sure others have talked about this similar idea. Basically, the performer takes advantage of an opportunity presented to him to create the effect of an apparent miracle. With Bruised, you can create such a miracle from an action that occurs often during the performance of magic. If performing for a girl or group of girls, position yourself close to them. If they are particularly evasive or flirty in nature... often after a strong
demonstration.. one of the girls - especially if you direct your effect toward the most physical one, will occasionally slap your arm in a playful fashion. Take advantage of this!

Over the next few months, I will be offering some ideas for you to perform and to stimulate your own creativity in developing a unique routine for a wonderful effect, Bruised. Of particular interest, I've saved one of my best routines for last - Budo Bruise. I feel most will enjoy this idea and find it to be a very workable routine for the Bruised effect. But, I encourage you to read through all of the ideas below, think about them, try them out, let me know how they work for you, if you have any questions, comments, or ideas on the following routines offered - I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me via email anytime!

Here are some ideas for lovers of Bruised!

Let's start off easy with a few simple ideas for presention!

Bruised Fruit
Effect: A lime is produced from a deck of cards and accidentally hits the performer leaving a bruise in the shape of the card. In addition, the selected card is seen to have vanished from the deck and is then found within the fruit.

Method: Sadly, I cannot describe the actual mechanics of accomplishing the effect, so as is, it is just an idea. But hopefully one that you will appreciate. Essentially, you produce a fruit in your favorite manner and have it apparently cause a little injury to your body. Vanish the card via your favorite method ie short card, wax, double stick tape, etc. Then, load or have a duplicate card already loaded into the fruit you produced. Reveal the bruise then reveal the card loaded into the fruit.

Mob
Effect: A card is selected during the telling of a story and revealed within the context of the story as a bruise on the performer's body.

Method: This is pure presentation. Force the five of spades, which I feel is the most realistic looking large type of bruise. During the trick, you appear nervous because you tell the story of how you were performing this trick a few days ago for some guys who you'd rather not name because they're 'family', mob type characters and you couldn't find the card which did not please them so they made sure you'd never forget the card with a baseball bat! Any story similar to this prior to revealing the bruise hypes up the revelation. Cry for effect...

Now For The Good Stuff...

Shiner
Effect: The magician attempts to find a spectator's selected card. He removes one card from the deck but it is the wrong card. A moment later, the selected playing card is revealed as a shiner on the magician's eyelid! When everyone looks back at the card he removed a moment earlier, it has changed into the selection!

Preparation: Put a card tatoo on one of your eyelids. Have a deck of cards handy with appropriate card ready to be forced.

Performance: This is a case where the method may be more intriguing than the actual effect/revelation. Of course, you could simply force the appropriate card and show the revelation as a shiner(black eye). However, as I've been studying the works of Derren Brown, Luke Jermay, and Kenton Knepper lately, I'm yearning for a more mentalistic approach. Therefore you can verbally force the appropriate card via a Derren Brown method as described in his book Pure Effect pages 155 - 160, or on his Devil's Picturebook DVD. He explains how to force cards such as the three of diamonds, four of clubs, jack of spades, and the infamous queen of hearts
all without the use of playing cards. Luckily for me, the majority of these cards I received as a gift in an xmas letter from Creative Magic this season - Thank you Brian. Thus, you either physcially or verbally force the appropriate card and the rest is presentational patter. The patter offered below is used with a physical card force which I feel is best for this scenario, however you may alter as needed for use with verbal card forces.

"The other day I was performing for a fellow magician and, as most magicians are, he was a bit of a heckler demanding that he shuffle the cards, so you may go ahead and shuffle the cards if you'd like. (Have spectator shuffle the cards) Then, he selected a card (force tattoo card on spectator without allowing them to see the face) however, before committing to that one card he demanded that he be able to change his mind if he so chooses... would you like to change your mind and pick a different card? (Do what the situation calls for either they stick with the force card or you will have to force the card again.) Then, he demanded that he shuffle the cards again before I attempt to find it. Would you mind shuffling the cards again? (They
shuffle) Now, I will attempt to find the card. (Look through the deck and locate the force card, moving it second from the top of the deck. Now turn over the top card.) Despite all of his efforts to thwart me (I just like the word "thwart"), he was furious when I turned over the top card and it was his card. (At this point, the spectator indicates that it was not the selected card). Really? That's funny, when I did this the other day it was his card the ___name force card___. (this should get a reaction from the spectator because apparently he just selected the same card as the magician heckler you are speaking of - an eerie coincidence) In fact, he was so mad that I wouldn't tell him the secret that he punched me in the eye! (Reveal shiner with card text inside it. As the spectator is misdirected by looking at the bruise/shiner, execute a top-change, swtiching the indifferent card for the selection. Now when they look back down at your hands...reveal the indifferent card has changed into the selection!)"

Note: To conceal the shiner bruise tattoo on your eyelid wear sunglasses until you are ready to reveal the 'shiner'! A little self-sacrifice is needed for this effect. You will either want to avoid going out in public a lot with a bruise shiner on your eyelid, or you'll go everywhere and do this trick all the time. I hope you do the latter, it's worth showing everyone you meet!

Warning
Let me preclude these following beginning ideas by admitting that I occasionally have a somewhat warped sense of humor. Blame the Jay Sankey and David Williamson influence. There is nothing funny about violence against a loved one. However, I feel that the following effects, if played in a tongue-in-cheek manner can be quite humorous!

Spousal Abuse
Effect: A card is selected by a spectator in the presence of the performer's wife, girlfriend, significant other or life partner. The performer claims that his partner has amazing psychic abilities and will be able to name the card. The significant other fails to do so. The performer becomes enraged and strikes his significant other creating a bruise that is revealed to have the spectator's card in it.

Method: Obviously, the Bruised tattoo is on your partner. The magician forces the appropriate card. The chaos ensues. Acting is critical in this presentation. I feel it's stronger and funnier if the performer strikes his partner, the partner falls to the ground, and the performer walks away... leaving the revelation to your partner who plays it up... maybe being helped to their feet by those watching, rubbing the bruise, and most importantly... let the spectators discover the bruised card. Perform at your own risk... I would never perform this for strangers as they may call the police, and be offended by the plot especially if they have had a bad experience in the past, but if you want to create an impression...

If you position your partner with their back to the spectators and have them clap their hands at the moment of impact, it looks and sounds like a true strike. See "Shiner" above.

Child Abuse
Effect: Same as above... only with the performer's child!

Method: See above. Recommended that you use your own child for this effect! And it should go without saying that you do not really strike your loved ones but act the part. Use at your own risk!

Chopped, Tossed Salad
Effect: A playing card is selected in an unusual manner and revealed in an equally unusual manner! First, the magician makes an odd request that a spectator demonstrate his best karate chop on him. The spectator performs a karate chop on the magician who reacts in surprise that he was actually hit...and that it hurt! Using that karate chop, the deck of cards is held at the magician's fingertips and the spectator is instructed to karate chop the deck, allowing the cards to flutter to the floor. The cards that fall face down are eliminated, leaving only the face up cards in play. This continues until one card is left facing upwards. The final card remaining
face-up in that apparent random selection process turns out to be discovered in a bruise left on the magician from the karate chop he received earlier!

Method: I feel it is important to have the action for creating the bruise occur first as it provides time misdirection to allow the presumed bruise to form and has the same effect as making a prediction prior to the experiment taking place.

Most will recognize the card force as a presentationally dressed up version of the double-sided card force aka Vernon's Boat trick that employs the use of 51 double-backed playing cards and one double-faced card with the same force card on both sides. The force of the card is therefore simply accomplished by going throught he procedure described to arrive at the foard remaining face-up. The rest is in the build-up, acting, and presentation.

Note: You could have two bruises tattooed on your body and use a double faced playing card that has two different faces matching your force bruises. Depending on which one shows face-up at the conclusion of the selection process, you reveal the appropriate bruise!

Bonus: This is a similar idea with a standard deck of cards. Have a card selected and controlled to the bottom of the deck. Have the spectator demonstrate his karate chop on you, where the bruise is secretly located but not yet revealed. Now you will perform the standard effect of holding the deck and slapping all the cards to the floor, leaving the selection (the bottom card) gribbed in your hand - the only difference is that the spectator karate chops the deck. Reveal the card as the only one in your hand, then reveal the bruise!

Budo Bruise
Effect: The performer shows an ordinary deck of playing cards and has one card selected. The performer finds the card in an unusual way, combining magic and martial arts. The magician holds the deck in one hand and then punches the deck with his other hand, causing the cards to fly everywhere! A bruise forms on the fingers of the fist and found within the magician's hand is the selected card folded in quarters.

Method: A bruised tattoo featuring the card to be forced is worn over the fingers, where the knuckles are. As the fingers spread the bruise may spread. Throughout the routine the right hand is held palm up whenever possible to hide the bruise until the moment of revelation. The appropriate card is forced and controlled to the top of the deck. The card may be signed or a corner torn off for future identification. The deck is turned to perform the mercury card fold. The folded card is held against the deck with the left hand. The right hand spreads the deck to show the faces of the cards, in the same action the folded selection is stolen into the right hand. While displaying the face-up spread of cards say, "Each card is different. You had a free selection of any of these cards. I will attempt to find the card by combining two of my favorite pastimes... magic... and martial arts!" Close the spread and keep the right hand palm-up while concealing the folded card in a Ramsey subtlety gesture. Then, bulid up the moment, close your right hand into a fist and punch the deck of cards,
allowing them to fly onto the floor. Acting is important for this next part. Wince in pain and perhaps rub your right hand fist, acting as though the punch really hurt. Then, reveal the bruise on your fist. For the kicker, turn over your hand and slowly open your fist, asking that someone pick up the card and unfold it to reveal the selection!

Presentation: A nice touch for presentation here is to patter about martial artist's ability to quickly snatch pebbles or coins from the hands of another person. This is your apparent reasoning for having the card folded in your right hand. After performing this, you will be the prime example of the phrase "The hand is faster than the eye!" Although untrue, "the hand is faster than the eye" is another good presentation for this particular effect!