it's frustrating when the mouse goes outside of the window, but i guess there's not much that can be done about that. arrow keys would not be better. the paddle would either have to move too slow so that you could control its position but lose balls cuz you didn't get there in time, or fast but with little control
to mute: click the green blob in lower right corner outside of the picture. to pause: click anywhere out side of the game window. you can't just move your mouse out, you have to click.
beat it... it definitely was a lot more of a challenge than the other ones, but it's cool cuz this one requires a lot more unconventional thinking. i'm sure there is more than one way to beat the levels, but for a lot of them i had to have stuff tipping or falling over and quickly wedge another shape in