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大佬 On the Road
If you’ve seen a silver Toyota Rush on the road with this car sign on the rear wind screen,
大佬 On Board
that’s limpeh me on the road. :-)
大佬’s Toyota Rush
I thought I would never decorate my mecha with any decals ever, but I couldn’t resist it when I saw this car sign at a little boutique along Haji Lane.
I got this Gagatree designed product from Salad. “大佬” is read as “Dai Lou” in Cantonese. The sign is cautioning you of the Big Shot On Board“.
gagatree car sign
Other than “大佬”, they’ve also got the “大家姐 On Board” version, with the motif of a thorned rose curling around a black heart. There’s also button badges with the words “大佬” and “大家姐”.
Salad
This car sign is one of those unexpected finds when I was hanging out at one of the truly bohemian quarters of Singapore. The Arab Street area has the feel of Greenwich Village in NYC or Haight-Ashbury in SF. But given the number of expensive independent label fashion boutiques, it might be closer to ura-Harajuku. It’s more interesting discovering these indy, ‘underground’ shops and cafe rather than browsing the faux-ghetto ‘youth annexes’ at the Heeren or Bugis Junction. This place is really street.
If you wanna check out other cool boutique or cafe, do check out The Garden Slug located at Lorong L Telok Kurau if you’re staying in the East.
The REAL 大佬
I’ve been referring to my SUV as my mecha. NISSAN just unveiled its latest SUV, and its marketed as if its a mecha. Introducing, the Nissan DUALIS. I came across this brand new SUV while surfing Danny and Don’s blogs.
Nissan DUALIS
The Nissan DUALIS is positioned as the metropolitan “power suit”, and I suppose ‘responsiveness’, ‘ergonomics’ and ’sturdiness’ are attributes of this SUV – that the mobile is an augmented extension of the human body. Nissan got mecha-designer maestro Shōji Kawamori (河森正治, designed mechas for Macross, Eureka Seven, Genesis of Aquarion, Armored Core) to design the power suit/mecha, “P/S DUALIS”, for the SUV’s promotion campaign.
It appears that Nissan is tapping the Otaku dollar. In USA, they’re also promoting the Nissan Versa by the way of HEROES’ resident Otaku, Hiro Nakamura. And let’s not forget the Nissan Sports Concept and Infiniti Cruiser that appeared in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society.
P/S DUALIS
Images ripped from IT media.
The P/S DUALIS is now on exhibition in Tokyo. You can also watch the P/S DUALIS in action at Pink Tentacle.
If I had a DUALIS, I don’t think I’ll ever need a sign that says “大佬”.

do me a big favour?
if you can.. name me some really interesting
retail shops/concepts with unique visual merchandising
(pleaseplease.. and the locations..)
something like Salad.
special store layout, or stylish visuals..
BIG thanks in adv.
(if you have no time, its okae..
i just wanna find more solid examples
to use in my exams next week)
and dai lou.. sounds okae..
ha. i prefer 大只佬。
hey dude, you can get that at Raffles City basement too leh… it is actually a merchandise (If I am not wrong) from G.O.D a hong kong lifestyle company… they have cool merchandises ranging from the Shuang Xi to the really chinese traditional stuff made into some radical bags and what nots.
shikome-lix > if you want to go off the beaten retail trail i.e. Orchard Road area, you might wish to check out the boutiques around Ann Siang Hill/Erskine Road, Haji Lane, and also Chip Bee Gardens (the other side of Holland Village).