People who say "hey, whatever happened to Gabe Kaplan?" obviously don't watch poker on television. He's been a player and commentator on the tour for quite some time now. He doesn't act, but he is getting back into stand-up comedy.

He's also a writer. He has a new book out, Kotter's Back: E-mails From A Faded Celebrity To A Bewildered World. It's a series of humorous e-mails to various people about supposedly great ideas that Kaplan has to get back into the public eye. Stuff like writing a memoir about his sex life or starting a gambling camp for kids.

For those who have been wondering when Roger Ebert was going to come back and start arguing with Richard Roeper again, you're going to have to wait a little while. Ebert himself sent an e-mail to RogerEbert.com that discusses his longer-than-expected recovery from three recent surgeries: one to remove a cancerous salivary gland from his right jaw, one to fix a burst blood vessel that were weakened by radiation treatments he had three years ago, and another that was not specified.

So, because of all the surgery, Ebert has been in the hospital since June. "I had no idea when I went into the hospital on June 16 that I would still be here on August 16," he writes. He currently is having problems speaking and is weak from all the time in bed. But he seems to be recovering well, even watching movies on a plasma TV that his Ebert & Roeper producer brought to his hospital room. He definitely wants to watch the movie Half Nelson, which substitute critic Kevin Smith said was one of the best movies he's seen in the last ten years. It's too bad he can't speak; I'd have loved it if he and Roeper did an episode from his hospital room.

[via Romenesko]