title is slow for a big data set

[Shaun Jackman]

When plotting a big data set, the title and label commands take as long as the 
original plot to run:

plot(bigdata)
title t % takes a long time
xlabel x % and me
ylabel y % and me

Is there a way to disable rendering the plot until after I'm done -- which 
could be useful for other situations too:
render off
plot(bigdata)
title t
xlabel x
ylabel y
render now

If I move the title and label commands before the plot, the plot clears the 
labels I just finished setting:
title t
xlabel x
ylabel y
plot(bigdata) % erases the labels

I can use `hold' as a work around:
title t
xlabel x
ylabel y
hold on
plot(bigdata)
hold off

Any other suggestions?

Cheers,
Shaun