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Want to sample alcoholic palm-tree nectar in Kuala Lumpur? Or how about some shots of schnappes in Vienna? Maybe outguzzling a beer-drinking champion in Sydney is your speed. You may not be able to bankroll such adventures but Zane Lamprey is ready to take you along as he samples the cocktails of foreign lands in his new "drinkalogue," "Chug," premiering Monday, Nov. 24, on National Geographic Channel. The series, which was largely fan- funded through a Kickstarter campaign, takes the host of such past series as "Three Sheets" and "Drinking Made Easy" around Asia and Europe in search of new beverages and experiences. Which made Kuala Lumpur, the location of the opener, a natural, according to Lamprey. "Kuala Lumpur was the one that I was like, 'This is interesting. Let's go here,' " the 38-year-old native of Syracuse, N.Y., says. "You don't think about Kuala Lumpur and think of any beverage in particular. ... I really like experiencing new things and also I didn't know what to expect in Kuala Lumpur and that to me is very intriguing because I like to have adventures and I like to put myself into positions that I wouldn't normally see myself in. So Kuala Lumpur gave me that." As for his favorite "Chug" location so far, Lamprey says, "in Sydney, we took a train trip out to Wollombi, we went to the Wollombi Tavern. So we ended up at a smalltown bar that just happens to be beautiful with a wrap- around porch and all these people hanging out on it, and we didn't want to leave." What are you currently reading? "I am reading 'The Panther' by Nelson DeMille. It's a novel, it's basically a different version of 'Die Hard' with terrorists. I'm always reading a book. I usually have about two or three going but every night I plow through several chapters. If I work, which means I'm drinking, then usually I have to wake up and reread those. But I still read when I get home." What did you have for dinner last night? "We're here in New Orleans and NatGeo has put on this amazing culinary drinking tour of New Orleans. ... So fried chicken, mashed potatoes, a few rum and Cokes and that's about it." What is your next project? "I would hope my next project is Season 2 of 'Chug'; we'll find out very soon. I have Monkey Rum, which launched in New York this summer and will be launching nationally the beginning of the year. I have my new online video series that I'm just having fun with, 'Tips and Tricks of Drinking.' " When was the last vacation you took – where and why? "We went to Fiji, and my wife is the producer of my show ... . And we shot in Fiji after we'd shot Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, and got to Fiji and then we just stayed there for a week afterward and acclimated – or something (laughs)." BY GEORGE DICKIE BEST DRINKING MOVIES "THE LOST WEEKEND" (1945) One of filmdom's first cautionary tales on the evils of alcohol overconsumption stars Ray Milland as a struggling New York writer and hardcore alcoholic who goes on a four-day bender after ducking out of a weekend in the country with his brother. Told in flashback, his adventures include getting tossed from a bar, checking in with an ex-flame, hallucinations and a stay in the drunk ward. Billy Wilder's adaptation of Charles R. Jackson's novel earned Oscars for best picture, director, actor (Milland) and writing. "DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES" (1962) Life spirals ever downward for a San Francisco PR man and his wife in Blake Edwards' startlingly frank – especially for the time – drama. Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) is a master at wining and dining clients, which has led to a drinking problem for not only himself but for his formerly teetotaling young wife, Kristen (Lee Remick). He gets fired, she causes a fire, they sober up, relapse, separate and then one finally sees the light – while the other sadly sees the light from a neon bar sign. "ARTHUR" (1981) Not every drunk is depressed, down and out and desperate, as Manhattan heir Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore) demonstrates in this classic romantic comedy that sadly proved to be the late Steve Gordon's only big- screen effort. While Arthur may be a happy lush, something is missing from his life: love – absent from his arranged match with a business acquaintance's daughter (Jill Eikenberry) but present in his forbidden relationship with a commoner (Liza Minnelli). The wedding scene is hilarious, but John Gielgud's ultra-dry delivery as Arthur's ever-loyal manservant and de facto father figure steals the movie. "BARFLY" (1987) "Here's to all my friends." Aimless drunk and erstwhile poet Henry Chinaski (Mickey Rourke) never had much use for hard work, so he whiled away his hours at the local bar where he gleefully conned free drinks and fought with a bartender. When one of his works is published and he finds himself in a relationship with his literary agent, Henry realizes he's become part of the class of people he despises: those who work for a living. He resolves to return to the only life he knows to be true – one of destitution and alcoholism. BY GEORGE DICKIE "Days of Wine and Roses" "Barfly" "Arthur" 8 The Goshen News • TV Spotlight • November 24 - 30, 2014

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