Squeaky clean Junyang is ‘Horny’!

The sight of Hong Junyang dressed in Prince Charming-white and looking dapper after a makeover in Taiwan is bound to send his female fans into flutters of heart palpitations, but what about the music in his debut album? *Videos included!

Kwok Kar Peng

Project SuperStar male runner-up Hong Junyang has released his debut album! The third of the ‘SuperStars’ after Tan Wei Lian and Kelly Poon to cut an album, this Prince Charming of clean-cut boyish looks has decided to dump his squeaky clean image and go ‘horny’ instead. The man, who used to be part of a five-member boy band Jusdifive (see his thank-you message to them in the CD sleeve!) where the surviving three now battles as J3 via SuperBand, officially launched his album Unicorn (Du Jiao Shou) last Friday May 26 with a media conference at Sheraton Towers. Prior publicity gimmicks included a one-week pre-order sale of the album that came free with the limited-edition single ‘Sha Sha De Shei’ and a dog-tag, making it all the more easier for doggedly loyal Junyang fans to spot their own kind I presume. His parents and younger sister also attended the press conference where the heart-warming familiar exchanges blessed the conference with a strong emotional touch. Sis wept copiously as a roomful of photographers clamoured to snap a shot of big bro, while mom and pop dabbed at moistened eyes while on stage with their son. Junyang, who now goes by the moniker JY, in return, choked and his eyes reddened at the brimming love and support. Mentor and the Music Director of the album Billy Koh and buddy JJ Lin, although in Singapore, were busy with JJ’s upcoming concert here and sent their congratulatory wishes over the phone instead. Video: Billy Koh and JJ Lin send their wishes... Video: Tips from JJ to JY!

Video: JJ's heartfelt words... The Unicorn manifests… The upbeat song with the same album name is composed by JY himself one and half years ago. “I had always been writing music before ‘Unicorn’ but I wasn’t satisfied with any of them. When I wrote this song, I was motivated to write a song that reflects my true character. ‘I like what I do, I do what I like’: this is my attitude towards life and when it comes to something that I love, I go all out to perform my best. It also speaks of my passion towards music. “Legend has it that the unicorn will emerge once again to save humankind when the world is facing dark and powerful threats. It looks aloof but is in fact gentle and passionate. I see myself a lot like this animal!” the 24 –year-old said enthused. Video: JY tells the legend of the unicorn... Although containing mostly ballad-sy pop tunes to hum along to in the bathroom and KTV room, there is one out-of-place rap song ‘Gu Jun Zuo Zhan’ in the album. Formerly titled ‘Yi Sheng Jue Wang’, it is the theme song from the local movie I Not Stupid 2. Not surprisingly, the angst-y lyrics about the social abandonment and dejection of not-so-book-smart kids are written by the movie’s director Jack Neo.

Dipping their fingers in the album production are acclaimed music producer and the witty judge of Project SuperStar and SuperBand Billy Koh; legendary local songwriter Liang Wenfu, Taiwanese lyric virtuoso Fang Wenshan and JY’s junior college ‘brudder’ singer-songwriter JJ Lin. JJ, apart from composing two songs ‘LOVE’ and ‘Dou Dou Nü Hai’, also lent his vocals to the former, a breezy R&B-ish ditty of how JJ helps JY to chat up (or serenade, rather) a girl. The song cuts in a boyish conversation between the two – imagine the cheeky JJ teasing a red-faced JY who in turned squirmed and squalled “Mei you lah… ni bu yao luan jiang lah” and “I’m too shy!” JY himself composed another two tracks in the album – ‘Hua Yi Ge Meng’, a song he wrote especially for his fans; and ‘Nao Dao’, an extremely hummable collaboration with Liang Wenfu that should hit the KTV charts and ringtone downloads in no time soon. Special significance is attached to the song: “I wrote Nan Dao with a heavy heart after a chain of unhappy events – a friend’s mum was ill and two friends who had been together for a long time broke up. In the song, I told myself to keep looking forward,” JY recalled.

‘Sha Sha De Shei’ is easily the crown jewel in this collection with leading lyricist Fang Wenshan lending his poetic linguistic skills to the song. The melodic love song is currently on the ‘933 Hot Stuff’ in the Y.E.S 93.3FM radio station music charts. Clarifying the misunderstanding that ‘Sha Sha’ refers to a girl, JY explained it is in fact the rustling sound of leaves that beckons the recollection of that special someone. Yes, very cheem and that’s before you checked out the rest of the lyrics! Video: What JY says about Sha Sha De Shei Video: How JY's parents feel... Video: Are JY's parents worried about him going astray in the complicated entertainment industry? Unicorn (Du Jiao Shou) is now on sale at all good music stores. Catch Junyang, Dasmond Koh, Sugianto and Campus SuperStar contestants Ng Chee Yang, Teresa Tseng, Geraldine See, Adriano Huang, Chen Yi Yuan, Clara Tan, Hong Yuyang and Ng Imm Khim in the final episode of Glamourlicous 2!

Video Interviews with Hong Junyang (Click on the links to view!) 1) Learn how Lord of the Rings' Gandalf influenced this album! 2) How has JY changed since Project SuperStar? 3) From the short-haired, 'toot'-looking contestant to the stylish young singer, how has JY's fashion sense evolved? 4) Now that JY's a celebrity, has be begun hiding his dirty linen and bribing his friends to zip their mouths? 5) Among the acclaimed musicians/producers who helped in the production of this album, who instilled the most fear and awe in JY? 6) How did JY feel meeting the famous lyricist Fang Wenshan? 7) Mandarin singers all over clamour for Fang Wenshan's magic touch. How did JY manage to get his help? 8) How did JY find filming Sha Sha De Shei music video with SuperHost contestant Zhong Xinyu? First Kelly Poon, now Xinyu... is JY destined to piggyback women? 9) What criteria must his song meet before it passes JY's expectations? 10) What does JY do when he's stuck during composing a song? Find out where his money goes to! 11) JY's lasting memories of his trip to Taiwan 12) Was there a time when JY felt there were too many obstacles to overcome? 13) Looking back on all that has happened in the past one year, what comes first to JY's mind? 14) Is JY worried that he'll be just a flash in the pan? 15) What's the next dream that JY wants to fulfil?

Track Listing: 1) Hua Yi Ge Meng 2) Sha Sha De Shei 3) LOVE 4) Nan Dao 5) Du Jiao Shou 6) Dou Dou Nü Hai 7) Liu Shui Nian Hua 8) Nan Peng You 9) Don’t Say Goodbye 10) Gu Jun Zuo Zhan

The True Reason

He said he wouldn't leave me
he promised to be by my side
he said I'd be his forever
he promised we'd never divide

he was my soul, my life
he meant everything to me
he was my one and only
until he had to leave

they said that it was suicide
they said his life was rough
then I fell down to my knees
and I never got back up

I sat there crying for hours
my knees pulled to my chest
and right then at that moment
my life turned into a mess

everything i had
was right before my eyes
it left in such a hurry
I couldn't say goodbye

I thought about his words
the last he spoke to me
I didn't understand
he said he wouldn't leave

I blamed it on myself
it was my fault he was gone
then I told myself
there's no way I could go on

they said that it was suicide
they said that I gave up
but no one knew the true reason
the true reason was love

Spaceports: Building up the Space Travel Industry

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 17 May 2006
06:50 am ET

There’s a global groundswell of support to build spaceports.

In the United States alone, political and financial muscle is at work to install spaceports in a number of states, be it in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas … as well as Wisconsin. Other states, especially Florida, are busy trying not to be left behind in the spaceport sweepstakes by pushing for new space-industry legislation.

On the world scene, a Scotland spaceport has been touted. So too is building a spaceport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Also being advanced is Spaceport Singapore.

Still, with all this hustle and bustle key questions remain: What is a spaceport anyhow? Moreover, can they be designed to accommodate the projected hunger for public space travel?

In the past, numbers of spaceports have been advocated—but faltered for various reasons.

The bottom line for a spaceport: It’s a lot more than plopping down a launch pad.

Full-service transportation

Since 1996, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST) has licensed five spaceports in the United States: California Spaceport at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Spaceport Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Virginia Space Flight Center at Wallops Island, Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, and the latest site to be sanctioned - the inland Mojave Spaceport in California.

Overall, some three dozen operational spaceports are spread out around the planet—most of them government owned and operated. But the promise of scheduled spaceliners blasting off with ticketed passengers onboard is changing the spaceport scene.

"One might look at a spaceport as an innovative, new century version of what you remember airports first looked like," observed Patricia Grace Smith, the head of the FAA’s AST office. "They will be a gathering place for people to learn and witness, for the first time, the capabilities and benefits of space," she told SPACE.com.

Smith pointed to New Mexico’s spaceport intentions, the building of a "full-service" transportation entity for space. "So you’ll be able to go and take suborbital rides and experience zero-gravity, but also become educated and aware of all the various aspects of space."

Flight line of business

Eric Anderson, president of Space Adventures, a leading space experiences firm headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, has remarked that "countries around the world are only just realizing the enormous commercial possibilities of space tourism."

The market potential for suborbital spaceflights alone, Anderson suggested, is estimated at $1 billion annually. Suborbital flights will offer millions of people the opportunity to experience space travel, he said.

By the end of the decade, in addition to the continued launch of spaceflight participants to the International Space Station—one flight line of business for Space Adventures—"we envision operational suborbital spaceflights and the launch of the first commercial circumlunar spaceflight," Anderson said.

Space Adventures recently announced a contract with Prodea, a private investment firm, to develop a fleet of suborbital spaceflight vehicles for commercial use globally. "This joint venture, in addition to the development of spaceport locations around the globe, is a part of Space Adventures’ effort to offer millions of people the opportunity to travel to space," said Space Adventures’ Vice President of the company’s Orbital Spaceflight Program, Chris Faranetta.

Joint venture

Clearly stirring the space travel and spaceport pot is the talent whirlpool of British billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, along with aerospace imagineer and builder, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites in Mojave, California.

In July of last year, the twosome formed The Spaceship Company. That joint venture is focused on manufacturing and marketing spaceships for the suborbital personal spaceflight industry.

The launch customer for the undertaking between Virgin Group and Scaled Composites is Virgin Galactic, Branson’s commercial space tourism endeavor. Virgin Galactic has placed an order for five SpaceShipTwo vehicles and twin White Knight Two motherships, with options on further systems, thus securing the exclusive use of the systems for the initial 18 months of commercial passenger operations.

Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson announced late last year a partnership with Branson to put in place a spaceport in the state. Branson’s Virgin Galactic will locate its world headquarters and mission control for its personal spaceflight business at the New Mexico spaceport, with start of operations projected for 2009/2010.

Battle of the spaceports

Rutan leaves no doubt that he’s working hard to make good on delivering a fleet of Virgin Galactic spaceliners. There’s also certainty in his voice that suborbital flight by paying patrons is near at hand.

"I strongly believe that you’re going to see within the next few years—certainly within a decade—proof that it is indeed very affordable and very safe," Rutan said at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) held earlier this month. "There’s going to be some cool things that you can do there," he added, with the suborbital passenger market far larger than most suspect.

Oddly, spaceports are popping up but they have nothing to fly, Rutan noted, with investments spurred by very little information. "It’s almost humorous to watch the worldwide battle of the spaceports…they’re everywhere."

That is a very comforting fact, Rutan continued. There’s also a message there, he said: Given spaceliners that are robust, affordable and safe enough to fly the public "other money that will be needed will appear in front of our face immediately … and I think that’s pretty cool."

Rutan has predicted big things ahead for the Mojave Spaceport.

As reported in the Mojave Desert News, Rutan recently said that "significant infrastructure" will be erected at Mojave to handle the space tourism business, including new spaceliner assembly facilities to be built within the next few months.

Adding a bit of competitive bite to his remarks, Rutan said that New Mexico may be good for military space operations, "but it’s not good for us…we want our passengers to see the ocean," rather than just desert on their flights, the Mojave Desert News reported.

Preliminary guesstimate

Meanwhile, in New Mexico, several design teams have made their bids to scope out what the state’s $225 million spaceport will look like. It will be built some 45 miles north of Las Cruces and 30 miles east of Truth or Consequence—an area near Upham selected due to its low population density, uncongested airspace, and high elevation.

The New Mexico spaceport is already gearing up to carry out its first rocket launches, albeit unpiloted, from the site this year.

"Our site activation process is nearing completion at the temporary launch complex in New Mexico. Everything is progressing smoothly," said Jerry Larson, president of Connecticut-based UP Aerospace, Inc. that is readying an inaugural suborbital rocket blastoff from the New Mexico spaceport grounds. The rocket for that first flight is in final assembly and will soon be transported to the spaceport, he told SPACE.com.

"Our customers are performing final checkouts of their payloads and experiments prior to their integration with the vehicle," Larson said. "We’re right on schedule for the multiple space launches that we have scheduled for this year."

According to New Mexico planners, their eagerness to build a Southwest Regional Spaceport is driven in part to support major near-term markets—to be served by cluster corporations—that engage in several money-making activities, such as:

• The emerging commercial space tourism sector, including operations of Virgin Galactic;
• NASA contracts for International Space Station commercial cargo and crew re-supply services;
• Proposed low-altitude racing competitions, such as those sponsored by the Rocket Racing League; and
• Evolving demand for low-cost human-rated reusable launch vehicles and rocket-powered racing aircraft.

One preliminary guesstimate has suggested that the annual economic impact spurred by a Southwest Regional Spaceport in 2020 could be in excess of $750 million in total revenues, and exceed 3,500 jobs—including all commercial space cluster space transportation services and manufacturing activities, as well as tourism-related visitor spending.

Polarization of spaceport providers

Derek Webber, Washington, D.C. director of Spaceport Associates, has taken a hard look at spaceport types. He makes the case that it is probably not a workable plan to attempt to cover all markets with a single spaceport.

"There is emerging a polarization of spaceport providers," Webber observed.

"Throughout the world, the already established government spaceports are likely to continue to provide expendable launch vehicle services to government, military and some commercial users," Webber explained. "Meanwhile, new commercial spaceports are emerging that will focus primarily on space tourism—both suborbital and orbital—and will thereby support the development of the reusable launch vehicle mode of spaceflight."

It seems unlikely, Webber said, that a single, all-inclusive type of spaceport will emerge that is able to handle satisfactorily all the diverse kinds of spaceport business.

Fields of dreams, fantasy traffic models

Anybody engaged in the new spaceport boom should learn the lessons from the first one, said Thomas Matula of the School of Business at the University of Houston – Victoria.

Matula explained at the recent ISDC that the first wave of spaceports occurred in 1989-1999. Those "fields of dreams", he said, were stirred up by such government projects as the Delta Clipper-Experimental (DC-X), the failed NASA-industry single-stage-to-orbit VentureStar program, and the privately-backed Kistler rocket.

Eventually, reality set in, Matula stated. Often spaceports focused on single firms, so when the firm failed so did the spaceport. Those backing spaceports didn’t ask the "hard" questions, he said, like what is the real demand for launch services? Also, did the launch firms really have viable business models? And are the proposed launch vehicles technically feasible?

Matula said this time around, his counsel to spaceport proponents is that they must craft a realistic business model. Spaceports are business incubators, not transportation facilities. Start small and expand as needed, leveraging existing facilities before building new ones. Ask the hard questions about markets, revenues and viability of launch firms, he said.

Above all, keep expectations down-to-earth and avoid fantasy traffic models, Matula advised.