While rain continues to fall upon New York, the West Coast finds itself beneath a cloud of its own as the L.A. Times debuts its new Sunday supplement. A cheapo fusion of the paper's once-standalone book review and its recently embattled opinion section, Current, the young beast appears, appropriately enough, to have no proper name. Like a couple joined together by arranged marriage, the new section is nothing more than the sum of its parts. And what's inside? Two sunny editors' notes, for starters; also, a phoned-in essay by Jonathan Safran Foer about the power of words.

With Current's Grazergate fiasco just passed and the storied LA Times Books Festival right around the corner, you'd think the editors in charge of intro-ing the shabby new order would have at least acknowledged the less-than-optimal circumstances under which they've come to share a home. They do nothing of the sort, however: the note that appears in the new "Opinion" mentions only that the new edition "will provide a mix of editorials, letters, cartoons and signed opinion pieces" and that a few of the regular Current columnists are moving to different days. Over in the new Book Review, meanwhile, David Ulin tries to banner the new section as "the first step in an effort to rethink our approach to books and book news at The Times." Then something about forging a synthesis between print and web, etc., etc., etc. We say: just tell it like it is, bubs! No one's getting fooled!

Then again, if Jonathan Safran Foer's essay on the diary of Holocaust child Pter Ginz is to be believed, then maybe the editors here are onto something. According to Foer, saying something makes it true; as he puts it, "Words are generative," and life happens in the articulation:

"You say "I do" and you do. What is it, really, to be married? To be married is to say you are married. To say it not only in front of your spouse, but in front of your community, and in front of God."

Indeed, say it enough times, and the L.A. Times' new Sunday supplement might just become the best thing in the whole paper.—LEON