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We are just a few days from the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final installment in the Skywalker saga. It feels like only yesterday they announced a sequel trilogy, and now here we are “at the end of all things.” (Oops, wrong epic fantasy series.) As The Rise of Skywalker draws closer, Disney and Lucasfilm are treating fans to special behind-the-scenes videos from the making of the final installment. And a cool new featurette delivers some never-before-seen footage from the grand finale.

Lucasfilm

On Thursday, the folks at Screen Crush discovered Amazon’s exclusive new behind-the-scenes look into The Rise of Skywalker. It’s pretty easy to unlock access to this new featurette via Amazon’s website as well as through Fire TV: Either type #TheRiseofSkywalker into the search bar on Amazon.com, or simply say “Alexa, the Force will be with you always” into your voice remote on a Fire TV device.

Lucasfilm 

Although much of the footage in the video is stuff we’ve seen, combined with nostalgic looks at the original trilogy, there is new and fun stuff to discover. For starters, there’s a moment sure to bring a tear to the eye of anyone who has been a longtime fan of the saga. We watch Anthony Daniels’ Threepio tell his little buddy Artoo “I want you to know that you have been a real friend, Artoo. My best one in fact.” I don’t think there will be a dry eye in the house when that moment happens in the theater. I got teary just watching that brief little clip!

Anthony Daniels has more experience saying goodbye to his character than anyone else in the entire saga. He said his first goodbye to everyone’s favorite protocol droid back in 1983 when Return of the Jedi wrapped filming. He did it once again when Revenge of the Sith stopped rolling back in 2005. The Rise of Skywalker marks the third time that Daniels has had to make his final goodbyes to the saga. When George Lucas first envisioned his series as a nine-part epic, he always saw the story as told through the eyes of the droids. Daniels’ portrayal helped make that notion a reality. Only Daniels has been there for all of it – even in Clone Wars, Rogue One and in Solo.

Lucasfilm

Another cool moment we see here is Leia handing Rey her lightsaber. This further implies that Rey will be trained in the ways of the Force by Leia herself in at least some parts of the movie. Which also means that her Jedi training under her brother Luke got further along than anyone had previously guessed. Will we learn what finally drove Leia away from the ways of the Jedi? Suffice it to say there’s much to ponder until the final episode finally hits theaters next week.

Images: Lucasfilm

The post New THE RISE OF SKYWALKER Footage Reunites C-3PO and R2-D2 appeared first on Nerdist.

According to the NBA, there is a new professional league The Basketball Africa League (BAL), which will feature 12 teams from across Africa and scheduled to begin playing in March 2020. This past week they held the first BAL Combine in Brooklyn, New York.

The two-day scouting event featured 50 aspiring players from across Africa, the United States, and other parts of the world. The BAL Combine took place last week at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Training Center, the Brooklyn Nets official practice facility, in Brooklyn, New York.

Each of the 12 teams that are playing in the upcoming inaugural season of the BAL will have up to 16 players (12 active and four inactive), at minimum, eight of the players will be citizens of their teams’ home country and up to four can be from other countries, with no more than two players per team from outside of Africa.

“Our goal is to establish the Basketball Africa League as a destination for top players with U.S. college, G League and international experience,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “Our first BAL Combine will provide teams with the opportunity to evaluate a deeper pool of talent as they fortify their rosters ahead of our first season, which tips off in four months.”

Related: Patrick Rishe Thinks The NBA Should Cut Schedule to 68 Games

The first BAL regular season is scheduled to take place in Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco) and Monastir (Tunisia). The first BAL Finals will be held in Kigali (Rwanda). NIKE and Jordan Brand will be the exclusive on-court outfitter of the new professional league.

The NBA and FIBA have plans to provide financial support and resources toward the development of Africa’s basketball ecosystem, including training for players, coaches and referees, and an investment toward the infrastructure.

The announcement about the NBA and FIBA’s launch of the BAL, which marks the NBA’s first collaboration with a league outside of North America, was initially made at the NBA All-Star 2019 Africa Luncheon in Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 16.

While you’re out shopping for sparkly eyeshadows and festive lipsticks to wear throughout the holiday season, don’t forget to grab the one beauty product that matters the most: lip scrub.

The essential may sound insignificant when compared to a fancy face compact or a gorgeous highlighter, but trust me, you’re going to need it to keep your lips soft and supple for your New Year’s kiss.

There’s nothing worse than sabotaging the magical moment or a love connection with dry, chapped lips.

So I took the liberty of rounding up the lip scrubs that will keep your pretty pout smooth and soft for the big event.

Checkout my kiss-friendly picks below.

The post The Best Scrubs For Dry Lips appeared first on Essence.

With Rise of Skywalker and the end of the Skywalker Saga at the end of the month to look forward to, Hard NOC Life is going to be a Star Wars podcast for the month of December. Because there aren’t enough Star Wars podcasts on the internet! Each week, Dominic and Keith will be breaking […]