What I wanted to do was be able to show some useful instructions or other text at certain times that was easily readable in the home theater set up.

Here is how I accomplished it -- it uses an excellent third party application called Quicksilver (check their website, blacktree.com for info if you are not familiar). The "large type" notification built in to Quicksilver displays the message on screen with a translucent black background that goes well with Remote Buddy's aesthetics.

In the action factory, create an action (or edit an existing one if appropriate). Under the "Implementation" tab, add a new Applescript, for example:

tell application "Quicksilver" 
show large type "Hello world!" 
delay 3 
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "x" 
end tell

When this message is displayed, it will stay there until a key is pressed to dismiss it. Any key will do. The "delay 3" pauses for 3 seconds, then sends some keystroke which causes the text to fade away. You can omit this and use a button on the remote to dismiss the message. Note that in order for the delayed dismissal above to work, you must have "Enable access for assistive devices" turned on under "Universal Access" in your system preferences.

The string "Hello world!" can be whatever you want to show, and it can contain new lines, but the opening " must be on the first line. For example, I am using this script:

tell application "Quicksilver" 
show large type "Turn on the gamepad and insert game disc now 
Play: start game 
Stop: quit 
Swap: toggle fullscreen" -- don't forget the closing quote! 
delay 5 
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "x" 
end tell

In the behavior factory, I've configured the action to run on activation, and the text informs the user how the remote buttons are mapped -- or reminds me if I forget :)

Hope someone finds this tip useful!

-Bryan