By Blair Thill, Gavel Blogger – (Photo courtesy of deceiver.com)

If pop culture were made of ice cream, here are the three flavors I’d be ordering this week:

Favorite Song I Want to Hate: Heartbreak Warfare by John Mayer

Last week John Mayer made waves in a Playboy interview in which he called Jessica Simpson “sexual napalm,” using the dreaded n-word, and comparing his genitalia to God knows what. John Mayer’s place in pop culture was already precarious, being a known Casanova and tabloid fixture. I don’t want to like him. But when he releases albums like Continuum that are practically flawless from top to bottom, it’s tough to remember why I’m supposed to dislike him.

Mayer’s new single, “Heartbreak Warfare,” hearkens back to the genius of Continuum with sonic guitar riffs and its warrior of love theme, far preferable to his first Battle Studies single, “Who Says,” whose mission was to constantly remind us of his womanizing ways. On VH1’s Storytellers, Johnny told us that this single was his lame attempt to match the wall of sound that is U2’s classic, “Bad.” It’s tough to match the partnership of Bono and The Edge (though you can definitely hear the similarities), but I think Mayer’s shortcomings gave him an original song that fit into his catalogue quite nicely.

Favorite Guest Star Casting: Bristol Palin on Secret Life of the American Teenager

There have been many awesome guest stars announced as of late: Carrie Underwood on How I Met Your Mother, J. Lo on HIMYM, Neil Patrick Harris on Glee, yadda yadda yadda. But this one takes the cake. It’s like Bristol went to Jon Stewart, Joel McHale, and David Letterman and said, “I want to try my hand at acting. What show do you think I should guest star on?” I mean seriously, does she know that the only thing the public knows about her is that she’s a teen mother? Does she have a publicist? Or does she simply buy in to the “any publicity is good publicity” school of thought?

Palin is going to play fellow teen mother (what a stretch!) in Amy’s teen mother support group. I can’t wait to see what McHale will have to say about the cameo on The Soup the subsequent Friday.

Favorite Olympic Stud: Seth Wescott

Some people like to watch the Olympics for the feats of sheer athleticism and startling displays of heroics. I enjoy those things thoroughly, but not as much as I enjoy scoping out the eye candy, and boy do the Vancouver Winter Olympics have a lot of that. From the goofy bro that is Shaun White to the smooth confidence of Apolo Anton Ohno, there’s a lot to indulge in. But my personal fav is a bit under the radar: double gold medalist and snowboard cross champ Seth Wescott. He may not be the best looking fellow on the American team, but what he lacks in overt attractiveness he makes up for in laid-back charm. And a killer smile. In the words of Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air, “A nice smily might just do it.”