Sideshow: Chris Brown in her sights

Rihanna may have moved past the assault she suffered at the hands of former boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009. (The two are reportedly collaborating on a new single.)

But country star Miranda Lambert isn't about to let it go. During the Grammy Awards last week, at which Brown was both a winner and a featured performer, Lambert, who was also in attendance, tweeted: "I don't get it. He beat on a girl."

It seems Lambert, who is married to The Voice judge Blake Shelton, was just heating up. It's clear that she doesn't feel that domestic violence is a matter that can be glossed over - even after the passage of time.

At a concert in Massachusetts, she held up a poster. It read: "Take Notes Chris Brown."

The next song on the playlist? "Gunpowder and Lead." If you're not familiar with it, it's a cautionary ditty about a woman pushed far beyond her limits who decides to kill her abusive husband. Imagine The Burning Bed with a catchy chorus.

As Lambert walked the poster from one side of the stage to the other for the audience to see, she said, "Get a good picture now; put it on Twitter . . . I've been in a world of hurt with Chris Brown fans lately . . . but see, I just have to speak my mind because where I come from, beating up on a woman is never OK.

"So that's why my daddy taught me early on in life how to use a shotgun." If you get her drift.

Too close to call

Because of the holiday weekend, the Hollywood box office tallies won't be settled until Tuesday, but based on Sunday estimates, it's going to be a close race between Safe House, the action film with Denzel Washington and The Vow, the romantic story of amnesia with Channing Tatum.

In preliminary returns, Safe House led The Vow $24 million to $23.6 million.

Better days

Elizabeth Smart has taken another big step toward rewriting th! e story of her life.

On Saturday, in a small and private ceremony in a Mormon temple in Hawaii, she wed her boyfriend of one year, Matthew Gilmour.

The bride had drawn considerable national attention when she was abducted from her family home in Salt Lake City at 14 and held for nine months before being rescued.

Smart, 24, and Gilmour, 22, of Aberdeen, Scotland, met while both were assigned to do missionary work in Paris. They had planned on a summer wedding, but as media inquiries grew, they elected for a quiet ceremony in front of family members.

Back in the saddle

Our brief but dismal national nightmare is about to end. A Comedy Central spokesman has confirmed that Stephen Colbert will return to The Colbert Report on Monday.

The dry-as-sand funnyman vanished from the air Wednesday night. Reruns were shown that evening and Thursday. Ticket holders for both takings were sent last-minute e-mails informing them that the programs had been canceled for "unforeseen circumstances."

It emerged that Colbert had unexpectedly left the studio to be by the side of his 91-year-old mother, Lorna Colbert. It's understandable that the faux-anchorman's family feelings are quite keen. He lost his father and two brothers in a plane accident in 1974.

Wire services contributed to this article.