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upworthy

stephen colbert

Jon Stewart applauding at the 2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games.

The debate over the origins of the COVID-19 virus has overwhelmingly come down partisan lines. Democrats tend to believe it came out of a wet market in Wuhan, China. Republicans tend to support the theory that it came from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

It’s easy to see why partisans have come down on different sides of the divide. Conservative media tends to demonize China and position it as an enemy of the United States. In contrast, liberals are more sensitive to race issues and don’t want to demonize Chinese people. This concern was played out in real time after there was a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Stephen Colbert introduces his "NFT Heist" trailer.

The recent NFT boom has raised a lot of questions about the intersection of art, commerce and private ownership, and most people aren’t convinced of their value. A recent poll published in PCMag found that 60% of people think NFTs are a scam, while just 10% see them as a serious financial investment.

NFT enthusiasts will pay an arm and a leg for the digital files because they have a certificate of digital ownership on the blockchain that cannot be replicated. So, even though someone may be able to copy and paste a jpeg of the rare piece of art, they will never be the official owner.

Last year, the NFT of a CryptoPunk character fetched $11.8 million and a Bored Ape went for $3.4 million at auction.

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Like many a fantasy-loving adolescent, I was completely obsessed with "The Lord of the Rings" growing up. It had everything: honorable heroes, compelling storylines and a rich, captivating world full of lore and intrigue. It helped me, and many others, escape to a place where good guys would win and where magic was undeniably real.

Every year, my grandmother and I would head out Thursday night to catch a midnight showing … which coincidentally always fell on a testing day at school the following morning. But nothing could stop us from experiencing Peter Jackson’s undaunted, bold and ultimately touching movie trilogy masterpiece.

So to see The Fellowship unite together once again on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" … let's just say it filled my nerdy heart to the brim. Along with countless others.

The fact that it was part of an epic rap battle made things even better.

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Andrew Garfield with Stephen Colbert.

Andrew Garfield came onto “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to promote his new movie, “tick, tick… Boom.” What he gave instead was a truly touching story about love and loss, with a refreshing and relatable twist.

The sweet moment comes at the four-minute mark of the interview, where Colbert asked Garfield how playing Broadway composer Jonathan Larson (who died suddenly of a heart issue at the upswing of his creative career) helped him process the unexpected loss of his mother.

Instead of wishing the pain away, Garfield states, “I hope this grief stays with me.”

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