Kirupa Tutorial Customiztion

Hi all,
My question is regarding a tutorial on Kirupa website.The link to the tutorial is:
http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx/infinite.htm

    I just want to know how to change the speed of the moving menu.In fact,i want to make it still slower.Added to that,I do not want the scrolling to occur.By default,I want it to be static and not move anywhere.It should move only when I hover over the menu.

Also I was wondering if there is any way to reverse the direction of the scroll.What I mean by this is that currently, when I hover over the right portion of the menu,the menu tends to move from left to right.I want to change this & make it move from right to left. Similarly when I hover over the left portion of the menu,the menu tends to move from right to left.I want to change this & make it move from left to right.

Also I would like to know if there is anyway I can load images from external folder and not just embed in the movie clip itself.Basically Iam trying to create a scrolling Photo Gallery and would like to have the ease & functionality of being able to add images in a folder & let the scrolling menu update itself.I have heard that it is possible by using XML but I am a newbie and I dont know anything about it.

An early help in this regard is highly appreciated.