diaporama should show loading animation

i have found that this is a very usefull module, however i have a to say one of the annoyances of the slideshow is that if the images are a little big or your line is slow, then it shows a blank block, then later loads the show..

it would be excellent if there was some indication that something is loading, maybe a loading gif or ajax or even flash.
another thing that would make this module even greater would be if you could load imagefield images in there, and even link the slideshow to a gallery, with views or otherwise.

does anyone else have such needs?