It's impossible to adjust player orientation.
As far as I know blockheads are canot be twisted. The only expection for this is tumbling I think.
The torque engine cannot handle total vertical rotation or so I hear.
If you'll notice, he isn't even talking about the gravity playertype. Or anything about rotation. Just gravity.
But I'm pretty sure this is entirely possible with zone events. Then on any bricks add the event,
onplayertouch>>player>addvelocioty []
So the players will "bounce"
As for "gravity boots", you can use variable events and bot events. If the player has the variable-boots (as in he's "wearing" the boots) the grvity will be normal, and his feet a different color (bot events)