Noob: Some basics things I'm apparently not getting

[eluser]xwero[/eluser]
Passing the data has more to do with your way of codeing than with OO. I changed my front controller to pass the data to the load->vars method so i don't have to do it in the controller (Custom front controller). Without my changes you could add the load->vars method to the model method for the page so the only thing you have to do in the controller is calling the method.

For your second question you are not, at any time, restricted to a sort of methods. They all serve their purpose but i think the easiest way is using the AR methods. Actually the AR methods have nothing to do with the query result itself. That is handled by the database/DB_result.php file.
Use AR for the most queries, when you have a complex sql statement you can use the query method.
Use the result object for outputting most of your data and use the result array when you can't or don't want to manipulate the data in the sql statement.