Flash Slideshow with Source Files
Here's a practical piece: a slide show. I've used it over and over again, just changing the design a little bit when needed. Images, with title and artist names, are loaded from an easily modified external XML file. Slide show runs automatically, and can be paused and restarted. Drop shadow, for images, is applied at run time.
Scroll down for link to source files. Code is written in AS2, for Flash Player 8.