Continued from page 1

OSCAR COUNTDOWN: Joan Gets Nasty

Wednesday February 25, 2004 01:00 PM EST

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Wednesday, Feb. 25: The Governator Skips the Party

5 p.m.: Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes personal plans to attend Sunday's ceremony and the Vanity Fair bash afterwards due to business in the state capital regarding Propositions 57 (a $15 billion debt-reduction bond measure) and 58 (which would require balanced budgets in the future). This means there will be room for one more Hummer in the Mortons parking lot.

4 p.m.: Oscar night database manager Amritz Lay restates the Academy's ban on camera phones and camera PDAs in any of the press areas on Sunday night, be it on the red carpet or in the interview room. Cell phones will be allowed in the backstage press area only if they are on silent mode -- or else they will be confiscated.

3 p.m.: Rain showers (that are expected to last until Friday) begin to pummel Southern California. Possible link to today's opening of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ explored.

1 p.m.: The backstage press walk-through at the Kodak Theatre takes place. Hundreds of journalists from all over the world learn their seat locations, where their DSL and dial-up lines will be, and, most importantly, where the sandwich table will be placed on Oscar night.

11 a.m.: The dry cleaners cannot promise to have my dress shirt laundered by the weekend, even after I desperately claim that I am getting married on Sunday. So I confess that I really need the garment for the Oscars. The shirt will be ready Friday.

10 a.m.: Oscar producer Joe Roth announces today's addition to the roster of presenters: Adrien Brody, Pierce Brosnan, Scarlett Johnasson, Ian McKellen, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler and Starsky & Hutch stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.

9:30 a.m.: Though the traditional yardstick of Hollywood's worst, the Razzies, aren't due until this Saturday, the L.A.-based Bad Cinema Society has already announced the "winners" of its Stinkers awards. Running away with the dishonors were the much-maligned Gigli (five Stinkers, including those for leads Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) and the unfaithful screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (four, including worst film). McG, the hand behind Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, was singled out for "worst sense of direction."

9:15 a.m.: Overheard in the breakfast crowd at Nate 'n' Al's Deli in Beverly Hills (where Larry King holds court in a front booth): "Could someone kindly explain to me the difference between Bill Murray's performance in Lost in Translation and what he did in Meatballs?"

9 a.m.: The 65-lb., 7 1/2-ft.-tall prop Oscars are delivered and the trees installed inside the 25,090-sq.-ft. Governors Ballroom in the Hollywood & Highland complex, where the traditional first post-Oscar party will take place Sunday night.

8 a.m.: A morning-drive radio deejay reveals Oscar host Billy Crystal's good-luck charm: his childhood toothbrush, the one he used to hold in the bathroom and talk into, pretending it was a microphone. It will be in his tux pocket Oscar night.

7:30 a.m.: The red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre is due to be nailed down, or however it is attached to the pavement.

7 a.m.: Arrive Los Angeles Airport after a 13-hour flight from Sydney, Australia. So much for taking the long way 'round from New York.