NEWS LITE : NAMES IN THE NEWS RICHARDS SERIOUS PORTRAYING KRAMER.

Being Kramer doesn't come easy, and actor Michael Richards wants the world to know it.

Richards dislikes the perception that he's perfect for the oddball ``Seinfeld'' part because he's naturally weird, rather than because he's a truly serious actor mastering a difficult role.

``Journalists like to portray me as a madman,'' Richards says in the May 31 TV Guide. ``When I talk about acting, I come across as addicted to perfection or obsessed. It's not that. It's just hard work. I'm a highly disciplined artist, and sometimes I push too hard.''

With his wild hair, offbeat clothes and zany mannerisms, Kramer delights ``Seinfeld'' fans with his crazy get-rich-quick schemes and frequent disastrous predicaments. Richards says it takes great effort.

``It's hard for me to walk away from something and go, `That's OK, I got the laugh, that's what matters,' '' Richards said.

``Everyone else will think it's fine, but I'll walk over and go, `Let's do another one. I didn't quite get it,' '' he said. ``They're used to me by now. They know I have to do that. It's a certain kind of torment that I have to go through.''

Humperdinck plays peaceful Lebanon

Showcasing a new era of peace in once war-torn Lebanon, Engelbert Humperdinck thrilled a sell-out crowd in a part of Beirut that saw some of the worst fighting in Beirut's 15-year civil war.

``You are amazing, you are wonderful,'' the British crooner told an audience of 7,000 at the Forum de Beyrouth hall. ``You are what makes us keep going.''

The 61-year-old singer performed old favorites like ``Please Release Me'' and ``The Shadow of Your Smile.''

McCartney shares guitar slot with son

The new McCartney album features a new McCartney - Sir Paul's 20-year-old son James, who trades sizzling guitar licks with his old man.

``I played the acousticky sort of part, like an old blues guy, and I left the young Turk to play the hot electric stuff,'' McCartney says of the song ``Heaven On A Sunday.''

``Of course, as a dad, I was just so proud,'' McCartney said. ``It's just brilliant to be playing with your kid. He came up with some very nice phrases.''

His son wasn't the only familiar face helping McCartney record the album ``Flaming Pie.'' McCartney also co-wrote a song with Fab Four alum Ringo Starr - their first songwriting collaboration.

``We just sort of made that one up on the spot,'' McCartney says of the resulting tune, ``Really Love You.''

The album's title comes from a line from McCartney's most famous collaborator, the late John Lennon, who once wrote of the band's name: ``It came in a vision. A man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, `From this day on, you are Beatles with an `A.' ''

``Obviously, John hadn't had a vision,'' McCartney explains. ``It was a joke. . . . However, certain people maybe didn't understand that humor.''

``Flaming Pie'' arrives in stores this week.

Christie's to auction

Wilde notes

Even as a student in Oxford, Oscar Wilde was clear about his destiny: ``Success, fame or even notoriety.''

In a questionnaire he filled out in 1877, Wilde said his most distinctive characteristic was ``inordinate self-esteem,'' and listed himself as one of his four favorite poets. Yet the traits he most disliked in others were ``vanity, self-esteem, conceit.''

The handwritten answers are in a two-page entry in an ``Album for Confessions or Tastes, Habits and Convictions,'' which is to be sold June 6 at Christie's.

The auction house estimated that the document, which includes a photograph of the 23-year-old Wilde, would sell for $4,800. It is being sold by a descendant of Adderley Millar Howard, a theater impresario and actor who collected the questionnaires.

Wilde became famous as the author of ``The Importance of Being Earnest'' and ``A Picture of Dorian Gray,'' and notorious after his homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas was exposed in a ruinous libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry.

Wilde was jailed for two years, and died in 1900.

In the questionnaire, Wilde said his idea of misery would be ``living a poor and respectable life in an obscure village.''

``That's is exactly how he had to live in exile in Dieppe after he came out of prison. He hated it,'' said Nicholas Worksett, who is handling the sale.

Among the 40 questions and answers:

What are the sweetest words in the world? ``Well done!''

What are the saddest words? ``Failure.''

What is your dream? ``Getting my hair cut.''

What is your bete noir? ``A thorough Irish Protestant.''

What is your idea of happiness? ``Absolute power over men's minds, even if accompanied by toothache.''

If not yourself, who would you rather be? ``A cardinal of the Catholic church.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) HUMPERDINCK

(2) Sculpture in motion, not dragon along

Six people in armor power their kinetic sculpture ``Late Knights and the Crescent Wenches'' across Humboldt Bay near Eureka as part of the 28th annual Grand Kinetic Racers Challenge on Sunday. More than 50 human-powered works of art and engineering took part in the race, covering 42 miles of sand, mud, city streets and water.

Associated Press