I love you guys. "Ha ha ha!" Did you really send me socks? That's incredible. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, let me briefly explain. A little while ago, before I began my road trip up to Portland, I mentioned that I was low on socks. I picked up a 12 pack in Berkeley and figured that that would be the end of it. Then Twilight Lexicon tells it's readers: “Hey! Let's send Mike socks! It'll be funny!” And they did!!! Not only did the twi-hards dig the idea, they followed through with it. One complete joke from idea to conception, THAT'S fan commitment. I have so many socks now it's ridiculous. You guys are beautiful. I appreciate the gesture very much.

I also have to mention an adorable little lady that goes by the name of NoMoreMarbles over there on the You Tubes. She's a twi-hard, she's funny, and she's put together a couple of videos about the cast of Twilight. She's dedicated about 4 minutes to me, (Official Twilight Cast Part 2 ) showing pictures that have been on my website over the years, and making fun of me for various reasons. It's very sweet and hilarious. Well-done NoMoreMarbles! You have the official Michael Welch seal of approval. Only Sean Penn and Jeremy Irons have received this honor, you should feel very proud.

The shoot's going great! Everyone's great! Kristen and Rob are great! Great great great great!! Hurray..

I'm going to Seattle pretty soon. There are two places in time I've always wanted to visit- Italy in the 15th century (The Renaissance), and Seattle in the early 1990s. You could see Alice in Chains on a Wed night, Soundgarden on Thurs, Pearl Jam on Friday, and Nirvana on Saturday. And it probably cost 15 bucks a pop in venues that had a maximum capacity of 300. How crazy is that? That was a mini-renaissance and I JUST missed it! Oh well, at least I was right on time for the Seacrest train!! Oh I kid the Seacrest, he knows I love him.

All done bye! Thanks again for the socks you crazy beautiful people!

-Mike/Mike

TWI-HARDS!!!! It's your old pal Mike Welch, playing everyone's favorite character, Mike Newton. We have much to discuss.

As you may know by now, I took a road trip up to Portland from Los Angeles, making stops at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Sacramento along the way. The highlight of the trip- was it Alcatraz, the legendary Fillmore, the food, the clubs? Absolutely not! It was go kart racing. Have you ever done it? Not the cheese-puff family friendly go kart tracks with the arcade, and bumper boats, and 2nd grade pizza party going on inside. I'm talking hard-core, speed go-kart racing people! It's incredible. If you like a little adrenaline rushing through your blood, but don't want to jump out a plane to get it, this is for you.

A few days ago I drove to Portland from Sacramento, and I had my "mini- Into the Wild" experience. I saw the Oregon coast, did a little hiking in the woods, saw some elk, horses, and cows. I have great advice for anyone planning on road tripping, and this comes from my buddy Chris Marquette. Try to make a conscious effort to step OUT of the car when you're in the middle of nowhere. It's one thing to stop for necessities, but stop when you’re miles away from anything industrial. It doesn't have to be a big deal. I stopped every 2-3 hours, usually for about 30 sec- 1 min, just to breath the air, feel the ground under my feet, check out the scenery, and stretch. The trip is greatly enriched. It seems simple and benign, but it makes a HUGE difference, trust me.

I got a speeding ticket at the end of the night. At that point it was midnight and I had been on the road for over 12 hours. I was an hour away from the hotel. Officer Sunshine was hiding from me, laser beam in one hand and siren in the other, waiting to get us Cali folk who've been on the road for hundreds of miles. I'm not bitter, the man's got kids to feed, I understand. And I WAS speeding, no question about it. But man, you gotta be careful when driving through these small towns in places like Nevada and Oregon, where one of their main sources of income is tickets for out-of-towners passing through. But I guess the ultimate lesson here is don’t speed, idiot.

Enough of my inane ramblings, let’s get to the juicy stuff! I had lunch with the cast today. Twi-hards, I know some of you are probably worried about certain choices. But as far as I can tell, it looks like Catherine and Stephanie have put together a near-perfect cast. The Cullen's, the high school kids, everyone seems exactly right for their character. I know that sounds like self-promoting BS, but I would’t lie my Twi-hards. If I were worried about the cast, I just would’t say anything at all. Plus, we get along well as a group, so hopefully we can have some fun and create something cool together. We’ll see what happens, but I am pumped kids! We start the high school stuff on Monday.

Well, I reckon’ I ought to be moseying’ along now. Good talking to you guys, and thanks for all the support!

-Mike/Mike

Hey gang. Michael here.

As many of you know by now, I’ve been cast as “Mike Newton” in the upcoming film, “Twilight, which, based on the on-line response, appears to be the Hannah Montana of vampire books. The film hasn't’t even been fully cast yet, and there are already over 50,000 posts on IMDB. So, for those of you die hard Twilight fans, or as I like to call you, Twi-hards, Hi. I hope I can please you with what I have to bring to the character. So far, your response to me has been very kind, and I appreciate that. Feel free to continue to comment about how you picture the character and I WILL take it into account, I promise you. The satisfaction of the Twi-hards is my first priority. At this point, the only constructive note I can find is to have a “puppy-dog” like quality. If there are any other qualities or traits that you as a Twi-hard see as essential to the character, please let me know.

Now, as for the rest of you, the gate-heads, the joan-cores, HELLO! I have been working hard on projects you will probably never see. Ha.. Since late 2005 (the end of Joan), I’ve worked on 10 movies, and I’m hopeful that we’ll finally get to see SOME of them soon. It looks like “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” will be coming out in May, that’s exciting. “Day of the Dead” is coming out to DVD in April, which is better than nothing. “An American Crime,” and “The Beautiful Ordinary” should be coming out sometime in 2008. And I have a recurring role on “The Riches,” on FX.

Now it’s off to Portland for the next few months to work on “Twilight.” I’m taking a road trip, making a few stops along the way. I’ve never been to San Francisco so that should be fun. I’m gonna try to make it up to Seattle too.. Alright guys, thanks for all your support, and I’ll talk to you soon.

P.S. I hope I didn’t insult anyone with the “Hannah Montana” reference. I was just referring to its cult-like popularity. I’m not making comparisons in any other way. That is all.

Michael loves the part of Mike Newton. He is looking forward to having fun with his character. He is very excited about being part of "Twilight."

He actually was very involved in basketball before acting. He played point guard and was really fast and a great shot. He felt it was not fair to his team mates to miss practice for auditions and jobs (with a nudge from the coach.) So he decided not to play team sports competively anymore. He loves to play tennis when he can.

Michael is going to update this section within the week when time permits. He just asked me to let you know how much he appreciates your feedback and interest in him.

We hope that their will be a resolution to the writer's strike that will be fair to all parties involved. There is a lot of residual hardship associated with the strike, and a lot of people are in crisis.

Michael has been filming "The Thacker Case", during the month of December. He plays the role of Kevin Thacker, a 21 year old repeat drunk driver offender. The story centers on his mysterious death in 1983. He was found in an alley, behind the Marshall Town Iowa Police Department.

Michael and I had the opportunity to view this young man's interview with the police approximately five minutes, before his death. Kevin Thacker seemed extremely drunk, but cooperative at the time. No one ever was convicted of this crime.

Michael booked a recurring role on "The Riches." He shot 4 episodes. His character (Ike) is involved with Di DI Malloy (Shannon Marie Woodward). He had a great time working with her and really enjoyed the cast and crew. This role could continue, but we don't know right now.

Michael now has a myspace account: officialmichaelwelch

Exciting news this month check back to see.

There is so much to report to you since the last update. First, Michael just got back from England where he was a celebrity guest at Gatecon UK, a Stargate convention. Michael’s appearance was a big hit. As one fan said, the highlight of the event was Michael’s rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" during an impromptu karaoke session.Meanwhile, Michael has been heating up the small screen as usual. His appearance on the popular CBS show Numb3rs aired several weeks ago and was well received.But the big news is that Michael will be seen on CSI: Miami, one of the highest rated shows on television, Monday, November 12th at 10:00 pm on CBS.In the cinema we are happy to report that An American Crime is on the verge on completing a deal which would put the film in theaters in June 2008. Watch for the DVD to follow in October.

Michael Welch is back and running, at least his web-site is. Michael only runs when he is playing tennis. By the way, Michael is a great tennis player.His web-master took a little holiday. So Michael has a new webmaster that takes her web-mastery very seriously.Since his last update, he has turned 20, has continued to be in a relationship with his adorable girlfriend, Marissa for a year and half now, and his sister just recently graduated Optometry college so it's free eye exams!Oh you're interested in his work? OK! "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" and "Day of the Dead", should be released beginning of 2008. He recently shot "American Son" and starred in "Lost Dream" with Sean Sipos. "Lost Dream" is an amazing script written and directed by Asif Ahmed. You can read more under Reelenergy.com. He also did episodes of "Law And Order SVU" and "Numb3rs".Michael's goal right now is to work, enjoy life, stay involved in politics and learn how to live in this world. Not easy but definitely worth it.Stay tuned for updates and Michael's comments when he is available.