gistfile1.py

##### yabl/entries/templatetags/entry_tags.py

from django import template
from yabl.entries.models import Entry

register = template.Library()

@register.inclusion_tag('entries/latest_snippet.html')
def latest_entries(num):
    return {
        'entries': Entry.objects.order_by('-pub_date')[0:num]
    }
    
##### yabl/templates/entries/latest_snippet.html

<ul>
  {% for e in entries %}
    <li>{{ e }}</li>
  {% endfor %}
</ul>

##### yabl/templates/base.html

...
<h1>Latest entries:</h1>
{% load entry_tags %}{% latest_entries 2 %}
...