Four Loko: Recipe for Disaster? Or Party in a Can? YOU DECIDE!

The only people that have an excuse for not hearing about Four Loko are people over 65, the deaf, or anyone who has enough sense to stay away from pop culture.

For those people, as well as everyone else, here is a little refresher on what Four Loko is:

Four Loko is an alcoholic energy drink with the amount of caffeine equal to a Redbull and a cup of coffee, and contains 12% alcohol (in a 23.5oz can, that's about 3 beers). And unfortunately, that is about all you can find about what is actually in one of these cans of mystery, except for the usual Taurine, Guarana and Ginsing crap that is in every other energy drink. Even the Four Loko Website doesn't give any information (other than how much they care about drinking responsibly) :-/

The thing about Four Loko, is that it seemed to come out of nowhere, and invaded the college scene due to its fabulous marketing, effectiveness, price, and "awesome taste". "Going Loko" has been all the rage, even though alcohol and energy drinks have been mixed for AGES (ie: Vodka Redbull, Jager Bombs, Joose, the list goes on...). College students have been going nuts for Four Loko, bringing it to parties, or just drinking it at home, for some unknown reason.  It has been difficult to just walking to Mild Wally's for a $1 slice on a Friday night without finding the streets littered with Four Loko cans. This makes me wonder if the cans have a refund, because otherwise the local homeless people would be all over that. Four Loko is so loved, that people advertise it themselves by creating exciting music videos!

This controversial drink has made such a fuss, that along with all other premixed alcoholic and caffeinated beverages, Four Loko is being banned throughout the country, already banned in the states of Washington, Utah, Oklahoma, Michigan, and New York. Why the ban? The blame is put in the blackout effect. People drink too much of the stuff, usually the fault of the caffeine masking the effects of the alcohol, then pass out an die in the local park dumpster. Also, don't forget the effects of using both a stimulant (caffeine) and depressant (alcohol) at the same time, this makes your heart sad :( 

No Doubt the result of going Loko

So even though the drink is being banned, and all of the college kids around the globe will fall into a slump, I have no doubt that they will find a way to get their fix. Whether it is smuggling Four Loko across state lines, or brewing their own batches at home, people in the Student Ghetto will never stop GOING LOKO.

Have you ever tried or experienced Four Loko first hand, or watched the show from the sidelines? Post your encounter in the comments below!

An Oldie, But A Goodie

You may or may not know it, but  downtown Albany can get a little exciting from time to time. I'm not talking about bars, clubs, or house parties. I mean the break-ins, muggings, and gunfights kind of exciting. Even though this happened WAY back in February 2010. For the full story go to http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S1420081.shtml?cat=0

A small memorial of flowers was placed
here, but is gone now.

I was new to the whole "Student Ghetto" scene, as it was called on the channel 13 news. I knew it wasn't the safest place, but that kind of stuff never seemed like a real threat. But, one minute your goofing around on Facebook, trying to conjugate "she swims" in Spanish to past tense, and the next you are hitting the floor after hearing half a dozen gunshots outside your window.

Police rushed to the scene of the gunshots, where a 37 year old man named Howard Tucker, was shot and killed after running over a police officer while trying to evade a routine traffic stop. The suspect was allegedly on parole with drug charges and was carrying a loaded handgun.

The right side of this fence has been repaired.
Sad to erase history like that.

The next day I decided to do some sleuthing around the crime scene, when I was stopped and interviewed by the Channel 13 action news team, I was on TV and everything! At that time of year everything was covered in snow and ice. I noticed the fence around the church was caved in where the car had collided with it. Sadly when I went to go check things out this week, I noticed that there is no sign of anything happening here at all.


Of course since this has happened, there has been a whole list of other incidents like this in Albany. But not all of them get you on the 6 o'clock news. So if you kids out want there want to be famous, go wander around the streets and follow the sounds of sirens and gunshots for your 15 seconds of fame.

Staying Alive in Downtown Albany

So you can run and tell that.

Well, obviously, this blog is going to be about downtown Albany. The life, the happenings, the danger, all of it.

Some people may or may not know this, but Albany is a bit of a strange place to live. The neighborhoods change from a warm, family community, to an impoverished slum, to a drunken destination for college kids. Far away from the safe haven of the SUNY Albany campus, their is a darker side of Albany, with plenty more guns, drugs, and drunks.


So don't hide from the reality of what downtown Albany really is, embrace it! It is, and forever will be, the Student Ghetto, and I am proud of how long I have survived here.

There's good things and bad things about Albany. Fun times and scary times. I will try to post them here, so anyone can feel like they live in the Student Ghetto.

It's kind of like surviving in the wilderness, except with a lot more booze and girls in scandalous clothing.