Pulse: Before we get started, we think it’s fun to hear a fun story or fact about our “people.” What’s yours?
Jorge: Ohhh, well when I was younger, I was dating a couple girls at a time … and one day one of the girls came to my house and actually kicked the door down. It was pretty crazy.

Pulse: Wow. Okay, I won’t ask anymore details about that, but it sounds like you had your hands full!

Pulse: You’re originally from Venezuela; what brought you to the States?
Jorge: I graduated from high school when I was 16 and I got a scholarship to come play tennis here in Florida.

Pulse: We know each other because you’ve been kicking my butt on the tennis court for the past few months. When did you know that you’d be a great tennis player and coach?
Jorge: Well, I didn’t like school, but I was always really good at sports. I played soccer really well, baseball and tennis … I was just athletic. But, I knew if I was going to be serious about one of them, I had to make a choice … the girls might of been part of it too.

Pulse: As a tennis coach, is it fair to say you’re doing what you love for a living?
Jorge: I’d rather be doing nothing else.

Pulse: So, what’s the best way for someone to get started if they’ve barely picked up a racquet?
Jorge: Private lessons are great. There are a lot of intricacies to the game, so taking some one-on-one lessons for 3 to 6 months is a good way to start. After that some group lessons, playing with friends … basically just practice, practice, practice.

Pulse: Okay, enough about tennis for now. When you’re not whipping people into shape on the courts, what sort of stuff do you like to do here in Central Florida?
Jorge: I love going to the beaches here in Central Florida. It’s actually a big part of my recovery after a hard day on the courts. The beach is a great way to rest, relax and stay healthy.

Pulse: You lived in Miami before moving to Orlando; how does Orlando compare to Miami and which city do you like better?
Jorge: Miami is great when you’re young and single, but for a tennis player it was not a good lifestyle…there were just too many distractions. So I used to come to Orlando a lot to get away … I’d go to the parks, watch the tourists and just hang out. It’s a great place to focus on you, it’s family-oriented and not nearly as materialistic as Miami. I love it here.

Pulse: We love Central Florida too, so it’s nice to hear you say that!

Pulse: So, what’s next for you? Will you still be teaching in five years? Ten?
Jorge: I really hope so. If not, it’s because I’m underground [laughs].

Pulse: Before we wrap up, how can people schedule a lesson with you?
Jorge: My home base is at the Lake Cane Tennis Center, managed by MG Tennis, but I teach all over. I teach lessons on the local courts, in private residences, you name it.

If you’re interested in lessons, give me a call at (407) 233-5150 or e-mail me at jorgenanco@gmail.com or jorge@mgtennis and we’ll set it up!

Eat delicious food, help raise money to send “Little Haiti Houses” to Haiti, and get access to the Central Florida Home & Garden Show. Sounds awesome, right?

This Saturday (March 20), Scott Joseph will be hosting “Homeowners for Haiti” at the Orange County Convention Center. The event will feature a delicious assortment of food and wine prepared by chefs from Cala Bella, A Land Remembered, Jack’s Place and Everglades.$25 will get you a ticket to the event, including the Home & Garden Show. Tickets can be purchased here. 100 percent of the ticket proceeds go to support Rosen Hotels’ Relief-Rebuild-Sustain projects … pretty impressive, we think.

(Thanks to Colleen B. for the Tip!)

akeorlando and I had the pleasure of attending last night’s Florida Film Festival preview party at the always-wonderful Enzian Theater.  The night was perfect … great spring-like weather, great crowd of press, Film Fest supporters and friends of the Enzian.  Peroni was on-tap and we had a chance to preview an assortment of films set to hit the screens when the Festival begins April 9.

The Event

The Films

In the Animation category, the Fest will show films such as Pigeon Impossible and The Mouse that Soared.

In the Shorts category “The New Tenants”, “Tired of Being Funny” staring John Mahoney … Frasier’s Martin Crane, “Some Boys Don’t Leave,” and the sure to be hysterical “My Mom Smokes Weed” will all be showing.

The Narratives Features category includes “Homewrecker,” “Obselidia,” “Lovely, Still,” and “Drones” among others.

The Opening Night film “Paper Man” includes some big names:  Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds, Lisa Kudrow, Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin … Stone and Culkin are set to appear at the Opening Night festivities.

There’s so much to look forward to at the Florida Film Festival!  Last night’s host Henry Maldonado shared the Enzian’s motto of Film, Food & Friends … one that I think perfectly describes the Enzian and FFF 2010.

For More Info, Schedules, Theater Locations and to BUY TICKETS, head over to:  www.floridafilmfestival.com, friend them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

P.S. – Big thanks to Henry for the shoutout to bloggers—we love you, too!

This past weekend we took a little trip to the Central Florida Fair (post to come; boy it was fun), and we saw this:

Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s fantastic. And we haven’t been able to get it out of our heads all week.

Now this is class….

And here’s part two of our experience* at the “Out of this World” exhibit at The Orange County Regional History Center.

The Exhibit

The “Out of this World” exhibit is truly a unique experience, and a chance for Central Florida to be a part of cinematic history! Go inside the movies and learn about special effects, makeup, sets, and more! But the highlight of this exhibit are the costumes on display. Unfortunately the exhibit forbids photography so you’ll just have to take our word on the “cool factor.” What we can share is all the featured costumes are the original ones used in some of the most classic films like “Star Wars,” “Blade Runner,” “Terminator 2,” “Indiana Jones,” “Star Trek,” “Ghostbusters II,” “Batman.”

This exhibit is running through the 16th of May. If you can’t catch it during the day there are private, guided after-hours tours for groups of 10 or more! Visit HistoryCenter.org or call 407.836.8376 for details.

If you want to see more photos of the show or the exhibit check-out our Flickr profile.

* While this is a ticketed event, we were kindly granted complimentary admission

The ultimate in Geekdom is coming to Central Florida this weekend. We’re talking about MegaCon 2010. MegaCon is the southeast’s largest comic book, science fiction/fantasy, anime, gaming, toys multi-media event, and it will be hosted at Orange County Convention Center. And get ready for it: Hollywood actress Lea Thompson will be appearing for a limited engagement.

Information and advance ticket purchases can be found at MegaCon.com. If you’re an uber-Geek and want every last detail about MegaCon you can Follow them on Twitter.

Stay tuned for photos from the event – friend of “Pulse” @anoo will be guest posting here.

I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never been to this venue, but I hear great things about The Plaza Theatre (the music venue, not the movie theater).

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, go see Five for Fighting, the band made famous in 2000 from their hit song “Superman.”

The original Orlando Chillounge Night was supposed to take place a couple of weekends ago at Lake Eola. Fortunately, for us, it is rescheduled for the first weekend in April.

Cabanas…music…drinks…fashion! Now this is our kinda event!



So, what exactly is Chillounge Night? It’s a big, fat party in downtown Orlando is what it is! Beautiful Lake Eola in the heart of Orlando’s downtown district will be transformed into a world of music, foods, drinks, and partying. You can get all the details on Chillounge’s website.

If you plan on going on and wanna save a little bit of cash (maybe have some more $$$ to spend on drinks at the event) you should purchase your tickets in advance*. They’re only $15 if you do that, versus $20 at the door. If you really want to splurge and impress your date, why not check-out the VIP Package for $75 – includes a whole bunch of goodies.

Hope to see you at Chillounge Night on April 3rd!

* this is not an affiliate link

Last week we talked about the fantastic exhibit currently at The Orange County Regional History Center. Well, this past Saturday and Monday we had an opportunity to experience not only the exhibit but a special fashion show (based on the exhibit) as well. Because we got so many awesome photos we’re breaking the posts up into two parts.

The Show

As a refresher, local Central Florida designers were challenged to create original outfits based on superheroes and villains. The winner–whose piece is featured in the fourth photo–received a scholarship. Here are some pics from both the reception prior to the show, and the runway show. Two contestants (Ben Chmura & Jesse LeNoir) from the current “Project Runway” season, along with celebrity Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSync fame, were judges.

While this was a public, ticketed event, @HistoryCtr_CFL was kind enough to extend us some media passes to cover the event.

Cause

While this isn’t completely Central Florida-centric in nature, it does relate to two very special Central Floridians. I also told a friend of mine who is friends with said Central Floridians I’d help promote the cause, so here we go….

This actually is a pretty amazing thing if you read into it. Founded in 2003 by Anup Patel and his fiance Rina Patel while at the University of Florida, Cents of Relief is an organization that brings attention & awareness to, what I understand, is a common yet taboo topic: women and children trafficked into prostitution. Here is their mission statement, as found on their website:

MISSION:
Cents of Relief endeavors to allow vulnerable populations, particularly women in prostitution and their children, access to healthcare and prevention from human trafficking. Our projects are dedicated towards providing educational opportunities, improving healthcare, and stopping human trafficking in hopes of permitting these individuals to enjoy the basic necessities of life.”

How You Can Help

If you happen to be in the NYC area next week, on Thursday, March 11th, please consider attending this party for Cents of Relief. I would love to go but…obviously, I live in Orlando. Tickets to the event are very affordable and are donated for the cause. Event details are included in the flier below.

If you’re not going to be in the New York City area later this month but would like to learn more about Cents of Relief, including how you can donate and get involved, please visit their website. And give a big shout-out to Anup and Rina for bringing awareness to this important topic.

Good wishes to Cents of Relief with their event!