This is one of my dream topics, as seeing a shuttle launch with my own eyes is on top of my must do list.
One of the previous posts mentioned the sound suppression system by water, this is NASA link with some photos and explanation of it.
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_watertest.html
Also both youtube and google video has some outstanding clips of various shuttle launches taken from a variety of cameras, the most interesting is the one from camera mounted on the fuel tank.