Hello, thank you for the kind words!
1) This is currently not possible, but we plan on working on it on a future update.
2) Yes, actually, on GitHub's master branch we have already made it possible for the rotate image effect to only affect the selection. This feature will be available in the next update, which will most likely be v0.8.2. Turning rotation into a tool, or making it easier to rotate a selection directly (probably through gizmos) is something we are also considering.
You can find older versions in our GitHub Releases page. https://github.com/Orama-Interactive/Pixelorama/releases
It's not recommended because generally the newest versions are more stable, and we will not fix issues that only exist on older releases.