Displaying the latest podcasts in my sidebar

On my sidebar I’m trying to display the most recent (lets say 5 posts) from my blog. I’m trying to edit the code below which I used to display the latest 10 posts. I’m pretty sure I’m way off here.

<?php if (have_posts(3)) : while (have_posts(3)); ?> <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
    else {<?php echo('nothing'); ?>

<?php
  // display recent posts excluding those from certain categories.
  query_posts("showposts=10&cat=-4,-5,-6,-7,-8,-9"); // grab 10 posts, negative to exclude cat IDs

  while (have_posts()) :
    the_post();
?>
  <li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
  <?php endwhile; ?>