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May 3, 2008

Are You Ready For TomCruise.com? I Sure Am Ready.

Michael Arrington

87 comments »

Hollywood Newsroom noted that Google ads are now popping up for searches on “Tom Cruise” that say “Official Tom Cruise Site. Stay Tuned for the Official Launch of TomCruise.com. Check it out!” or alternatively “Official Tom Cruise Site. The Countdown is On. TomCruise.com launches May 5th. Get the scoop!” and links to TomCruise.com.

Because it’s a Saturday and I’m interested in Tom Cruise in the same way people are interested in accident scenes as they drive by, I decided to dig a little.

The site currently shows a countdown clock that ends on 9 AM Monday morning (somebody please double check the math for me). The domain name was registered by an attorney, Benita Das, at the Los Angeles law firm Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger. Das is not listed as an attorney on the firm’s directory, but I did find a reference to her back in 2002. Is this one of the law firms that Tom Cruise uses? I have no idea. They do practice entertainment law, though.

The domain was first purchased on November 6, 1996, but very little was done with it until now. The last update to the whois information was April 28, 2008. My guess is that the law firm bought the domain name on Cruise’s behalf. That would explain why the attorney is the registered owner, at least for now.

Just yesterday Cruise was back on the Oprah Winfrey show promising to “strictly divide” talking about his absolutely insane personal causes, and film promotion. Which topic will be the focus on TomCruise.com? Who cares. This is likely the last time I’ll visit the site.

  • Sphere It

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  1. TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » トム・クルーズ公式サイト「TomCruise.com」が今更カウントダウン

    May 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 pm

  2. Here’s A Hosting Provider You’ll Probably Want To Avoid

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Comments

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  1. Tom

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am

    new scientology site is going on there

  2. Judson

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Slow news day?

  3. Dariusz Siedlecki

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am

    Tom Cruise social network, you heard it here first!

    Seriously though, every 25th second flashes. 25 years ago (5th August 1983, to be exact) Cruise debuted on the big screen. Maybe this is hint enough to what this site will be about?

  4. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am

    why does everyone who writes “slow news day?” think that they are somehow more funny, unique, insightful or witty than the other 25 people who write that each day on this blog?

  5. Adam Gershenbaum

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am

    Heh. I am tempted to make a post or two to find out more about this. But I just don’t care about Tom Cruise.

    I can only hope for the LULZ and that Anonymous has some fun with it though.

  6. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am

    Dariusz - wow, you stuck around on the site for 25 seconds? I just wasn’t willing to make that kind of time commitment.

  7. Brian Carter

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am

    Um so Tom is about to join us in web 1.0 finally? Wow, exciting. ;-) Well at least I guess he can join the late adopters who are still in 1.0 Land.

  8. James

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am

    Who’s placing bets on how long before Anonymous hacks it?

  9. Larry

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am

    This guy is a moron creep who gives a bad name to gays. He is a closet case media manipulating scientologist jerko. Do not give him any more attention. He does not deserve it.

  10. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am

    James - man, I wish my lawyers would let me offer a free techcrunch tshirt to whoever hacks the site first. but alas, they say no. So I am explicitly not asking anyone to hack the site.

    Seriously. I’m not asking for that, or suggesting it should be done. and we certainly wouldn’t give a prize to anyone who did it.

    i just wish it was both ethical and legal to encourage the hacking of that site.

  11. dan daneshrad

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am

    its going to be ‘Cruise Dianetics’

  12. Franz

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am

    Maybee he will come out of the closet then.

  13. Dave Q

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 am

    IT will show this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5qOS4Q39sg

    over and over again until you all sign up for the church of Scientology

  14. Elbert F

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 am

    What’s with the glowing 25?

    —
    http://crunchlabz.com

  15. Barbara Ling

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 am

    The thing I remember most about Tom Cruise is a Mission Impossible scene in which he uses Netscape Navigator to send an email…and there’s a space in the official email address.

    Totally ruined the movie for me. :)

    Barbara

  16. Dariusz Siedlecki

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:27 am

    @Michael - I was lucky enough to enter the site just when the 25 flashed, I’m not that crazy.

    And the countdown will end on 5th May, 17:00 UTC, to be exact.

    Anyone cares to decompile the flash and see what happens at that time?

  17. Adam Gershenbaum

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Michael and James:

    BRB going to make sure no one with Anonymous knows and to explicitly tell them NOT to mess with Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is serious business and is NOT to be toyed with.

  18. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Elbert - see #3 above.

  19. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Darius - what’s UTC? Speak silicon valley please.

  20. Dariusz Siedlecki

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am

    PDT is 7 hours behind UTC, so (if I’m not mistaking on the UTC part), the bombs will go off at 10AM.

  21. Elbert F

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:35 am

    @Michael: I waisted 3 seconds on the site, from 26 to 24. And I saw the afterglow in the picture in your post.

    —
    http://crunchlabz.com

  22. Judson

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 am

    @michael arrington: yowch, that hurts. I was merely saying that clearly not a lot is happening if your blogging about the opening of a actors website, which uh, never happens on techcrunch.

    And he means the #25 pops/glows, not every 25th second.

  23. Peter Corbett

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 am

    Okay, i’ll ask the obvious question: Michael what were you doing google-stalking Tomcat in the first place?

  24. Sean

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Admit it Michael, you’re a closet Tom Cruise fan! :P

  25. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 am

    Elbert - I don’t believe you. I’m betting you stayed on for a full minute at least to see two cycles. :-)

    Judson - apologies. just blew off a little steam that built up over a lot of those comments.

    Peter - read the first sentence of the post, it reveals all.

  26. you cruise you lose

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:54 am

    The premise: Scientology is for the birds (I know, it’s giving the birds a bad name).

    The Kvetch: This is the price we pay for the so-called “religious freedom”. Despite the benefits religions have brought to humanity, we have had to suffer the evil of bin Laden and the foolery of guys like Jerry Falwell and Reverend Wright. If the power of U. S. government cannot shut down polygamists outright and had to wait for the “gathering of evidence” of children being abused to the extreme to take any action, we need to conclude that something is fundamentally wrong.

    The issue: we should be careful when we criticize or ridicule cults like Scientology, because we are essentially pointing fingers at ourselves.

  27. batangueno

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 am

    uhmmm…who cares if he has a domain. i prefer techcrunch.com over him! :-)

  28. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am

    Thanks @nederhoed
    http://nederhoed.wordpress.com/

  29. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am

    #26 - no, i think we should exercise our constitutional right to ridicule scientology.

  30. George Kirikos

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    The domain name was won in a UDRP decision at WIPO in 2006. There was wide media coverage at the time.

  31. George Kirikos

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    Ugh, I posted a link, but I suppose because I’m not logged in or something, it didn’t get posted. Try searching Google for “tomcruise.com wipo” to see it.

  32. Kevin Osborn

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    I didn’t see this in the comments above, but apparently he won the name from
    a cybersquatter:
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2.....otcom_win/

  33. Elbert F

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    @Michael: You see right through me. I have to much time on my hands.. I’m even checking back these comments for replies.. But then again, so are you.

    —
    http://crunchlabz.com

  34. kevin

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    The countdown ends at 9 am pacific, 12 noon eastern.

    I think the math that was wrong above didn’t figure for daylight savings time.

  35. L. Ron Hubbard

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    Readers of TechCrunch beware - Michael Arrington is the human manifestation of Xenu.

    Ask yourself - would you trust a man who brought billions of people to Earth in spaceships, staked them around volcanoes and detonated H-bombs to kill them all?

    If you trust such a man, continue reading TechCrunch. If you don’t trust such a man, join my Church and start on your path to Operating Thetan.

    http://twitter.com/scientology

  36. David Hallowell

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    Love the video in #28, Mike. At first, I thought it was a serious interview with Tom Cruise regarding scientology. Then I realized it was a movie trailer. Where does the actor begin and the person end?

  37. Katie Holmes

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    EM PLEH
    RALLEC EHT NI DEPPART M’I

  38. Matt

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    He hosts through GoDaddy.

    Tom Cruise you fail.

  39. Jack Dem

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    the site looks cool as it is right now. if only countdown was set to last for few years….

  40. George Kirikos

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    If you want to see something impressive, do a “dig http://www.tomcruise.com” — the site is hosted by Akamai, so it appears they’re already anticipating huge traffic, and have the hardware and network in place to handle it.

  41. George Kirikos

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    Ugh, now when I didn’t want a link, WordPress turns it into a link automatically. Do that “dig” without the http etc. up front, i.e. use the www plus the domain name.

  42. David Oxley

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Whacky DNS, it doesn’t resolve without http://WWW.

    Say No To WWW, Say No To Scientology.

  43. SF94109

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    Wonder if it’s Xenu proof ? No joke, check this:

    http://www.boston.com/ae/celeb.....en_bunker/

  44. Jeff Crites

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Anyone remember when the Rosie O’Donnel TV show was first on (before she also went loony toons) … and she was obsessed with Cruise? She had a Tom Cruise Countdown Clock, counting down the minutes until his first visit on the show.

    She had a photo booth on her set, so they could take pictures together when he arrived. Yep, the memories.

  45. George Kirikos

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    #42 — But the MX (mail server) records for the domain do resolve, to GoDaddy.

  46. Shams

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    Interesting!!!

  47. Matt

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    @George

    Any ns**.domaincontrol.com are GoDaddy hosted accounts… those are the DNS servers for GoDaddy.

    Why anyone would ever host with GoDaddy is beyond me.

  48. George Kirikos

    May 3rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    #47: The nameservers are GoDaddy’s, but the DNS has been set to create a CNAME record, that points the “www” subdomain of tomcruise.com to a site handled by Akamai. So, it’s GoDaddy DNS + email, but Akamai hosting.

  49. Matt

    May 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm

    @48

    Ah I see… you did a little more research then I did haha.

    They must realize that if their site receives high traffic that it will crash if they are GoDaddy servers haha. Kind of a DNS run-around I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just use Akamai DNS as well…

  50. Jay (Twitter @qthrul)

    May 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    Did you notice the a top Google Trend yesterday was telluride?

    http://www.google.com/trends?q.....amp;sort=0

    At first, I thought it was a joke but he even shows up on Google Maps

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=.....b63b8328c6

    Perhaps Telluride will be the new Graceland.

  51. toypaj

    May 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Here is some of the actionscript from the countdown - 25 is indeed a magic number of sorts [I can upload the FLA if Required ;) ]:

    // Action script…

    // [Action in Frame 1]
    function displayTime()
    {
    var _loc6 = timeRemaining.days < 10 ? (”0″ + timeRemaining.days) : (String(timeRemaining.days));
    var _loc3 = timeRemaining.hrs < 10 ? (”0″ + timeRemaining.hrs) : (String(timeRemaining.hrs));
    var _loc4 = timeRemaining.mins < 10 ? (”0″ + timeRemaining.mins) : (String(timeRemaining.mins));
    var _loc5 = timeRemaining.secs < 10 ? (”0″ + timeRemaining.secs) : (String(timeRemaining.secs));
    var _loc1 = clock.digits;
    var _loc2 = clockShadow.digits;
    _loc1.day10.text = _loc2.day10.text = _loc6.substr(0, 1);
    _loc1.day1.text = _loc2.day1.text = _loc6.substr(1, 1);
    _loc1.hour10.text = _loc2.hour10.text = _loc3.substr(0, 1);
    _loc1.hour1.text = _loc2.hour1.text = _loc3.substr(1, 1);
    _loc1.minute10.text = _loc2.minute10.text = _loc4.substr(0, 1);
    _loc1.minute1.text = _loc2.minute1.text = _loc4.substr(1, 1);
    _loc1.second10.text = _loc2.second10.text = _loc5.substr(0, 1);
    _loc1.second1.text = _loc2.second1.text = _loc5.substr(1, 1);
    } // End of the function
    function tick()
    {
    timeRemaining.secs = timeRemaining.secs - 1;
    if (timeRemaining.days == 0 && timeRemaining.hrs == 0 && timeRemaining.mins == 0 && timeRemaining.secs == 0)
    {
    timeIsUp();
    }
    else
    {
    if (timeRemaining.secs == specialNumber)
    {
    doSomethingSpecial(”secs”);
    } // end if
    if (timeRemaining.secs < 0)
    {
    timeRemaining.secs = timeRemaining.secs + 60;
    timeRemaining.mins = timeRemaining.mins - 1;
    if (timeRemaining.mins == specialNumber)
    {
    doSomethingSpecial(”mins”);
    } // end if
    if (timeRemaining.mins < 0)
    {
    timeRemaining.mins = timeRemaining.mins + 60;
    timeRemaining.hrs = timeRemaining.hrs - 1;
    if (timeRemaining.hrs targetDate)
    {
    displayTime();
    timeIsUp();
    }
    else
    {
    timeRemaining.days = Math.floor(difference / timeConv.dayMilliseonds);
    difference = difference % timeConv.dayMilliseonds;
    timeRemaining.hrs = Math.floor(difference / timeConv.hourMilliseonds);
    difference = difference % timeConv.hourMilliseonds;
    timeRemaining.mins = Math.floor(difference / timeConv.minMilliseonds);
    difference = difference % timeConv.minMilliseonds;
    timeRemaining.secs = Math.floor(difference / timeConv.secMilliseonds);
    ticker = setInterval(tick, 1000);
    tick();
    } // end else if
    } // End of the function
    function retrieveServerTime()
    {
    var _loc2 = new LoadVars();
    _loc2.onLoad = function (success)
    {
    if (!success)
    {
    failMessage.gotoAndStop(2);
    }
    else
    {
    var _loc3 = TZO - this.aTZO;
    var _loc2 = new Date(Number(this.inYear), Number(this.inMonth), Number(this.inDay), Number(this.inHours) + _loc3, Number(this.inMins), Number(this.inSecs));
    trace (”determined eastern time to be: ” + _loc2);
    dateNow = _loc2.valueOf();
    difference = targetDate - dateNow;
    setClock();
    } // end else if
    };
    _loc2.load(timePHPScript);
    } // End of the function
    var tDate = new Date(2008, 4, 5, 12);
    var timePHPScript = “serverdatetime.dat?” + random(10000);
    var specialNumber = 25;
    var TZO = -5;
    var targetDate = tDate.valueOf();
    var dateNow;
    var timeConv = {secMilliseonds: 1000, minMilliseonds: 60000, hourMilliseonds: 3600000, dayMilliseonds: 86400000};
    var timeRemaining = {days: 0, hrs: 0, mins: 0, secs: 0};
    retrieveServerTime();

  52. Dan

    May 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    All joking aside, I think official celebrity blogs will become increasingly important to celebrities (and as a result to the general public) over time. The celebs are going to want to poach as much revenue from the US Weekly’s of the world as possible. I think this site launch is indicative of a broader trend.

  53. Dan

    May 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    P.S. “Top Gun” was a great movie!

  54. JackMayhoffer

    May 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    Mike

    You’ve Jumped the Shark.

    TC is a gossip rag now. This is a PerezHilton post, nit TC.

    And you wonder why people ask if it is a slow news day?

    I thought you went to law school, don’t need to be smart to get in?

  55. Michael Arrington

    May 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    jackmayoffer - no, i got in because my parents dedicated a new building or something.

  56. microhoo

    May 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Bah, they purchased on yahoo too. Why doesnt yahoo keyword purchase get mentioned?!!!

  57. Darnell Clayton

    May 3rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    As long as he doesn’t launch a blog I’ll be happy. We already have to deal with Rosie screaming her heart out (in lower case nonetheless).

    @53 JackMayhoffer: It’s Mike’s blog, he can pretty much post about whatever he wants–within the law of course (unless he buys his own island).

  58. techcrunchreader

    May 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm

    Tom Cruise is in the Scientology Church for tax purposes only. Who wants to give a huge % of $20M per movie (minimum) to the IRS?

    Yep, do a bit of research before saying he is this and that.

    Tom Cruise is a really smart guy.

  59. Online Suduku

    May 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    Are you interested in me? TomCruise wants to know!!

  60. Mogilny

    May 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    @techcrunchreader Haha… r u jk? He is a believer. I don’t think he went on public tv and jumped on sofas for a tax reduction.

  61. Respect the screenshot

    May 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    we believe you, Mike. you don’t have to provide a whois statement of ownership for the tom cruise site. you just love those screenshots, though, don’t you? in an unrelated, though somewhat related, matter - isn’t it a bit sad that it was Goose and not Maverick who went down in that airfight over the ocean, way back before Cruise discovered Scientology?

  62. * Miss UNIVERSE

    May 3rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    hmmm…

    Can’t wait till the launch.

    He is the top box office hunk of this decade

    No one comes close to his longevity

  63. Emily Litella

    May 3rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    What’s all this I hear about celebrating the 28th anniversary of “Cruising”? Sure, it got a lot of attention at the time, and Mr. Pacino was very brave to do it. But it took us seniors 15 years of hard work with the Carnival line to take back that word….

  64. techcrunchreader

    May 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    @59 Mogilny
    No, I,m not joking.
    Jumping on a sofa has nothing to do with taxes…? Of course not, why the heck r u relating that to it? He jumped on the couch because he is madly in love with Katie…he owns a fleet of jets…a Veyron…a million dollars wine cellar…millions worth of art pieces…a personal staff of X people…and so on… Let him jump on a couch as often as he likes…he is Tom Cruise. What do you do when you are happy?

  65. Son Nguyen

    May 3rd, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    How much does he pay for each click? I can’t seem to see that from here. Maybe too many fraudulent clicks already???

  66. Amanda

    May 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. best post picture of all time.

  67. Jen

    May 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    Techcrunchreader

    Tom Cruise obviously believes in scientology or he wouldn’t be willing to risk his reputation by bashing actresses like Brooke Sheilds about postpartum depression, and how scientology can help. Get real, he’s a nut job.

  68. Wootang

    May 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm

    Some dumb ass people up in here, seriously contemplating hacking a Tom Cruise site, when there is a genocide going on in Darfur. The Fuk is wrong wit choo?

  69. ZOMGIMANON

    May 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    tom cruise is gay, this site will be gay, sci-fiology is gay.

  70. Damian

    May 4th, 2008 at 2:32 am

    This is quite possibly the most useless thing ever posted on Tech Crunch.

  71. Scot

    May 4th, 2008 at 4:27 am

    It looks like the countdown ends at noon EST and 9 am PST.

  72. TCreader

    May 4th, 2008 at 7:48 am

    why the hack are you searching for Tor Cruise on google!

    as someone else pointed out this is not a post for TC

  73. techcrunchreader

    May 4th, 2008 at 7:56 am

    @67 Jen

    Tom Cruise made a mistake and has officially apologized to Shields.

    So, a lack of knowledge on postpartum depression (which obviously he does not know how much he does not know about biology of the brain and drugs) and jumping on a couch makes him a nut job?

    If THAT is your definition of a crazy person, I guess we are surrounded by wackos…

  74. Vadim

    May 4th, 2008 at 11:10 am

    You are bunch of greatest MORANS I’ve ever seen!!!!!!
    Tom Cruise is the GREAT guy and Scientology is very useful thing for all of you!!! First get to know things before making any ignorant and STUPID conclusions about them!!!
    Sincerely,
    Vadim

  75. Bob

    May 5th, 2008 at 6:26 am

    Its America. Its a free country. Tom can do what ever he wants. He earned every red cent. Leave him Alone!

  76. Rob Numb

    May 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am

    One hour to go.
    I am soooo excited.

    Not.

  77. Vinay

    May 5th, 2008 at 10:48 am

    & Its Launched! :-)

  78. Vinay

    May 5th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    & Its Launched! :)

  79. Logical Extremes

    May 5th, 2008 at 11:41 am

    Someone should spell-check the site. In the bio section, see “revitilized” toward the end. Yikes!

  80. jack

    May 5th, 2008 at 11:46 am

    wow, have you seen it?
    wow… that’s all i can say - still processing….

  81. angie

    May 5th, 2008 at 10:46 pm

    i love every tom cruise movies he puts his heart and soul in it hes one of the best actors out there it worth the money for his movies thank you for 25 years of get movies angie

  82. angie

    May 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    im sorry i wanted to say thank you for 25 years of great movies angie

  83. Cruise Can Save Us

    May 7th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

    Our fearless leader can save us from anything…the proof is in the picture

  84. samand khongorzul

    May 16th, 2008 at 3:56 am

    Hello my name is khongorzul. i.m from Mongolia.

  85. samand khongorzul

    May 16th, 2008 at 4:00 am

    i,m always happy when looked tom cruise’s wonderful family

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