Jay Chou Studio

I've had several possible topics for my next post running through my head the past few days....all focusing on even more aspects of His Royal DIAOness but I somehow suddenly realised that it's about time I paid a proper tribute to a HUGE reason I was able to get to know Jay so well and in so short a time, despite not being fluent in Chinese initially.

Yes, regular readers (if there are any...lol!) will notice that I have shared loads of links to a certain website aka Jay Chou Studio (aka JCS), which provides up-to-date news items about Jay amongst many other things:

http://jaychoustudio.com/

and its related forums, Multistars Forums:

http://www.multistars.com/forums/index.php

What was and is so special about JCS was that it is a totally-English Jay site, which was a boon to me, a white-washed Chinese in an Asian country who had the good fortune to fall in love with the King Of Mandopop, somewhat late in life but not with any less enthusiasm. ;)

As stated in an excerpt from my testimonial on the occasion of JCS' 8th birthday in August 2011:

"I remember going literally quite nuts about Jay after that (watching The Green Hornet), buying up his albums, books and dvds and then realising I needed to find translations for his songs...which naturally led me to JCS.
I remember emailing Kelvin an enquiry about Grandeur de D Major...and being pleasantly surprised when he replied!
That made me venture into the forums (which I had not done so initially) and I saw how friendly everyone was.
I finally took the brave step of registering and after more lurking, made my first comment on 18 March.
The welcome I got from kelvin, hav and fluffy convinced me I had done the right thing and well, the rest is history. :)"

Indeed, I dare say I was and still am a very active member on the forum, which has gone through its quieter and more lively phases over the past fifteen months of my participation there. Some members have opted out for personal reasons; new members have joined in with gusto; some chip in occasionally and many simply read and lurk. ;)

At this point, it would be criminal if I did not give a shoutout to Kelvin, the JCS admin (aka Mr Chopperman aka Boss) who started everything in 2003 and is still holding everything together admirably for, by now, nine years and counting...and all from his home country somewhere in England (of all places!).

Here's another excerpt from my testimonial:

"Thanks a gazillion for the history lesson and for not giving up on this forum, Kelvin, even when times were not-so-great. I think the main reason it never could have died was because our dear Jay has kept going all these years, with his unending quest for doing new things to fulfill his dreams, which had the effect of garnering him new fans who would eventually find their way here to JCS. :)
(Btw, Kelvin, I want to compliment you on how well-organised the site and forum are.
And what an awesome Boss you have been, without imposing tons of rules and regulations or issuing threats)."


The website is indeed very easy to navigate, with sections clearly labelled for all things Jay-related viz Discography, Awards, Translations (of lyrics, in Chinese, simplified and traditional, and English), etc. I am still totally awed by its comprehensiveness as it speaks volumes of Kelvin's support for Jay and commitment to providing a website for non-Chinese-understanding fans of Mr Chou.
Jay Discussion, Jay Gallery, Jay Videos and the recently-added Jay Fan Fiction will have you giggling, swooning or debating....and hopefully sharing.

Thanks also to the lively forum discussions, I have made friends with many of Jay's fans from all over the world, some of whom have even connected up with me on Facebook to share even more interests (you know who you are!).
And Kelvin acknowledged as much in his message on the testimonial thread:

"It's incredible that this site has managed to keep going for 8 years and it's really all thanks to you! I can't tell you the number of times I thought about closing down for good but when I see people actively using it and making friends, all the hard work makes it worthwhile. I honestly want to thank everyone who's been posting here for the last year, I think we really started to pick up again after a drab year last year. I would thank you all individually but alas I know I would miss out names and it wouldn't be fair."

Well, we are now awaiting Jay's twelfth album in December and the forum has picked up again. I've no doubt we will prevail where other (English) websites have not.

I also hope that my readers will take the time to explore JCS and Multistars Forums as they are a treasure trove of information and discussion about Jay Chou.
Even better, register as a member and join in the fun with your comments, posts and whatever else, because the Foum is not all about Jay only. There are sections and threads which discuss other stars, movies, and well, anything you can think of!

Two great things my regular postings on the forum have done for me:

1) My love for writing was reignited as I ventured into starting new topics and liking the look of my written words online, I guess that's how it also led to the creation of this blog.

2) Helping to translate vids, articles and books for the other forum members led to a tremendous improvement in my Chinese language proficiency (as I had to read and/or listen before translating!), which has also enabled me to communicate comfortably with yet another group of Jay fans who speak mostly Mandarin and opened up a whole new vista of Jay fandom for me viz the Jay Chou Malaysia and Singapore fanclub.

So for those of you who have not visited the JCS site or registered as members on Multistars....what are you waiting for??

Hope I'll see many of you there soon 'cos Jay always has something or other happening in his life and JCS is THE place to get the best news....in English!