Brace yourself.

Brace yourself. We are entering the seemingly endless entertainment industry awards season. All media will celebrate celebrity in the effort to boost public adulation and ticket sales. The red carpet will be rolled out, rolled up, rolled out and rolled up again many times.

We are offered cloying self-congratulatory speeches, emotional thank you's to mom, wife, kids, God and colleagues, a little humor here and there, lavish sets, celebrity gift bags ($$$), beautiful hosts and hostesses reading mush from teleprompters, all in the name of "art."

So get out those expensive designer gowns, those glistening jewels, those spike heels, those funky male tuxes. Call the make up artists, the hair stylists, the cosmetic surgeons, the agents, the publicists, the escorts. Get them all here now.

Total up the costs of clothing, food, venues, PR, production and staging, support staff, limos, odds and ends, and we probably have the GDP of a small third world country.